A grant is provided to students based upon their financial needs. A scholarship is granted based upon a student's academic merit. Neither one of those needs to be repaid. However, with grants and scholarships (especially scholarships), students are sometimes expected to maintain a particular grade point average. A student load must be repaid. A federal student load must be repaid with a relatively fixed interest rate. A private student loan must be repaid with a often rather high interest rate. A student load, usually, does not depend on a student's grade point average.
