How early you should apply for a student loan really depends on two things: whether you are trying to decide which school to attend based on what kind of financial aid you can get, or whether you've designated your school of choice and need to figure out which loans you will use to pay for it, and how large they will have to be. Either way, you should first think about what kinds of free aid and gifts are out there once you've determined you will attend a school of higher education. You should exhaust these sources before you apply for student loans. […]