What You Need To Know About PLUS Loans for Graduates

Jan 18
09:11

2012

Milana Grade

Milana Grade

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A free overview of Federal PLUS loans for graduate students. Read this article to know the difference between PLUS loans for parents and PLUS loans for graduates and get advices from experts.

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Federal student loans are great financial aid resource for students who really want to attend college and be able to achieve great results in their lives and careers. Today people are making a conclusion that education is the main turning point for most of us. It influences all aspects of lives including: finance,What You Need To Know About PLUS Loans for Graduates Articles health, insurance, family, relationships and other.

There are three types of loans that can be received under Federal Loan Program today: Stafford, Perkins and PLUS loans. Federal PLUS loans have two subtypes: PLUS loans for parents and PLUS loans for graduate and professional degree students.

The Difference

Before analyzing main features of PLUS loans for graduates it's necessary to point out the difference between PLUS loans and other two types of federal loans available for students. Federal Stafford and Perkins loans are dealing with need based criteria and they are designed for student with financial need. For these loans credit history and income level plays no role. The federal government wants to help students with financial need, students who have no opportunity to cover tuition cost by themselves.

However both PLUS loans for graduates and parents are the opposite. They are not designed for “needy” students from low-income families. These loans are dealing with creditworthiness criteria. Typically they have requirements similar with requirements from private loan lenders but at the same time they have features from federal financial aid options (like interest rate). So, to apply for PLUS loans for graduate and professional students it's necessary to have good credit history. If a student doesn't have it he has to have a cosigner who has it.

A cosigner must be credit-worthy – with high income and good credit record. Credit score plays an important role because a borrower and a cosigner will pass or not credit check.

Eligibility

In order to be able to apply it's necessary to meet requirements. It means that not all students can apply successfully. It's important to know all requirements and be well informed in order to save the time and don't be disappointed in the future. One of the main eligibility requirements is that a borrower must be U.S. citizen. The second important thing is to be graduate and professional degree student. It's obvious because this type of federal financial aid is specially created for certain type of lenders. And if a student does not meet this requirement it's better to not wasting time.

Interest rate

One of the main benefits is that PLUS loans for graduates are low-interest. From one side they do have requirements as private student loans have but from the other point they have low-interest rates. This is a mix of private and federal loans from some point of view. The interest rate PLUS loans for graduate and professional degree students equals 7,9%. Also the loan can be canceled. It couldn't be done whenever a borrower wants. The loan can be canceled only under certain circumstances.

There are federal student aid options from grants and scholarships to student loans. However PLUS loans for graduate students are the best loans for this type of lenders because they allow student to attend higher education at affordable price and without paying high interest rates.