Dried up credit is trickling all the way down to colleges and universities.

Some student loans are being affected by this financial meltdown.

Action News Reporter Jessica Light explains how.

The credit market is frozen.

And many students could end up paying more because of it.

"Lenders are unable to loan money back and forth between each other, so student loans started drying up this spring. Here at BCC for example, we lost 95 percent of our lenders." says Douglas Lukasik, the Director of Financial Aid at Broome Community College.

That accounts for more than 10 million dollars lent to BCC students.

The college was able to secure new lenders but students have to go through more red tape to borrow money.

And that's just federal loans.

"High cost private loans are a whole other story and what the students and families are going to have to do is really shop around. The interest rate is going to go up. Its going to cost students more to borrow through the private loans." says Lukasik.

BCC doesn't deal with private lenders.

And Binghamton University works primarily with federally guaranteed loans.

But students at high-cost private institutions, like Cornell, often depend on those private loans.

"Some lenders are not going to be in the market anymore of lending to students. But there are still significant resources or options out there. Students just need to make sure they do their homework." says Dennis Chavez, the Financial Aid Director at Binghamton University.

Chavez says student's shouldn't panic.

College financial aid offices can help families explore all avenues of paying for higher education.

In Vestal, Jessica Light, WBNG-TV Action News.

Only a few hundred students at Binghamton University use private loans to pay for college.

About a thousand Cornell undergrads do.

Cornell University released a statement saying its keeping an eye on the situation but it doesn't anticipate any fundamental changes.