I've seen a couple other questions similar to this on your forum, and the answer always seems to be - take the unsub loan.

I'm having a hard time understanding the advantage to the unsub loan. My daughter received notice that she is "elligible" to take out a $6500 unsub Stafford Loan. I have excellent credit, so a private student loan from Discover Financial is Prime+1 (4.25%) vs 6.8 for unsub. Both accrue interest from the time the loan is taken out, and the interest can be added to the loan if desired or repaid while in school. Payments start 6 months after graduation for both, and Discover allows up to 15 years to repay (I've been told that Stafford loans can go beyond 10 years as well, but unsure of the criteria). Discover private loan has a couple other benefits (2% graduation reward, .25% interest credit for automatic debit).

So, other than the possibility that the prime rate could go past 6%, which would put the loan more than the 6.8% unsub Stafford loan, what reason would I have for getting the unsub loan?

You are right, that is the main reason...and there also is no cap on private loans....so if prime sky rockets...so does her interest rate. A few other reasons are:

1. unemployment/econmic hardship deferment options with the unsub loan
2. loan is forgiven if something were to happen to her...with a private loan it would fall on you as the co signer.

Thats about it though