SYRACUSE -- Applications for federal student loans are up since summer, and are expected to be up even more in November and December, according to Syracuse University. The good news is that money is available from federal "Stafford" loans.

Don Saleh, Syracuse University Vice President of Enrollment Management, explains how those loans work. "Undergraduates, it escalates each year", he says. "About $3,500 for a freshman. $5,500 and up for juniors and seniors. Generally, as long as the student doesn't have a negative credit rating, they haven't done something really bad, they can get the loan."

Saleh says the terms are different, depending on family income. "For lower and moderate income families, generally they are eligible to have their children borrow money and no interest accruing while they're undergraduate and graduate students. For higher income families the interest rate would accrue, while they are borrowing. Students generally have ten years to repay the loans. That would be all their undergraduate, if they go to graduate or professional school too, it would be ten years. But there are opportunities for them to extend that out if they consolidate their loans and that's an opportunity that some students take."