Parent Loans
Many parents find the Federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) a useful way to finance all or part of college expenses. The Federal PLUS Loan Master Promissory Note (MPN) is a legal document that holds you responsible for repayment of current and future loans. The Federal Parent PLUS Loan MPN is valid for 10 years and does not require you to complete another Note for subsequent borrowing unless the lender no longer participates in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP).

You cannot apply for the Federal PLUS Loan more than 9 days before the start of loan term. You can begin this process June 1st. The Federal Parent PLUS loan is subject to a credit check process, you will be required to complete the actual Federal Parent PLUS Master Promissory Note (MPN) online or via paper depending on the lender you chose. You will have to enter the amount of funds you wish to borrow. PLEASE NOTE: When selecting the "requested loan amount", keep in mind the 3% origination fee and if you are going to apply for the full academic year or semester by semester (see example below).nt Loan Programs.

College-sponsored Loans
  Here are some schools that have their own Parents loans. The interest rate is usually lower than the Federal PLUS Loans. Make sure to look over the college's financial aid information or contact the financial aid office
Private Loans
  this should be your very last option to pay for college. Banks, credit unions, and other lenders offer private loans to pay for college expenses. But, these loans usually have a higher interest rate than the federal loans that are based on financial need. Make sure you read through all of the information on federal parent and student loans before applying for a private loan.
Upfront Fees on Parent PLUS Loans
Parent PLUS loans may have an origination and a federal default fee. The origination fee can be up to 3% and is used by a lender to cover administrative costs. The federal default fee can be up to 1% and is intended to fund services to help student-loan borrowers who experience difficulty making their payments so they can avoid some of the expense and consequences of defaulting on their loans. Both fees are deducted from the principal, meaning the amount you borrow and the amount you actually receive will be different. Some lenders may cover all or a portion of these fees. Zero-fee loans are ones where the student does not have to pay either an origination or default fee.
Parent PLUS Lenders
Studentequity has analyzed all known lender programs of this type offered to students. The criteria utilized to evaluate these lenders included (in order of importance) customer service, technology, lender background, disclosure/transparency and default initiatives. The compilation and analysis of data during the lender selection process was conducted by an independent advisory firm with Studentequityloans making the final selection of lenders based solely on the best interests of borrowers.

The use of a lender on the Studentequityloans list is not required. Studentequityloans will process loans from any eligible lender the student selects.Studentequityloans may not deny or otherwise impede the borrower's choice of a lender or cause unnecessary delay in loan certification for those borrowers who choose a lender that is not included on the lender list below.

he top lender programs for the Federal Parent PLUS Loans, based on the analysis described above, are presented on this page in alphabetical order. Bear in mind that Studentequityloans does not endorse or recommend specific lenders. For more information, contact the Financial Aid Office at www.Studentequityloans.com

Consolidation loans have longer terms than other loans. Debtors can choose terms of 10-30 years. Although the monthly repayments are lower, the total amount paid over the term of the loan is higher than would be paid with other loans. The fixed interest rate is calculated as the weighted average of the interest rates of the loans being consolidated, assigning relative weights according to the amounts borrowed, rounded up to the nearest 0.125%, and capped at 8.25%. Some features of the original consolidated loans, such as post graduation grace periods and special forgiveness circumstances, are not carried over into the consolidation loan, and consolidation loans are not universally suitable for all debtors.