Millions of Americans today are in the position where they would like to attend college. However they do not have the income required to be able to pay tuition fees. There is a wealth of programs available for people to take advantage of, but they are not able to access them due to lack of funding. However, many people can now rest assured that they will be able to attend college, thanks to PLUS loans available from lending institutions.

PLUS loans are really federal loans that help parents with good credit to borrow up to the cost of the attendance for their undergraduate kids. The government indicates that these loans can be used for tuition expenses, supplies, housing and books for the child who is pursuing undergraduate studies. The main key to this however is that the loan amount will be less any other financial aid that the parent has received towards education at an undergraduate institution.

There are several benefits to applying for a PLUS loan from the government. First of all, PLUS loans offer flexible repayment terms as well as the option for deferred payment. Deferred payment simply means that parents do not necessarily have to repay the loan until after their child has competed undergraduate studies. An additional benefit is that there is a fixed interest rate of 8.5%, which can help parents in planning for the repayments. They will not have to wonder about whether an interest rate increase will increase the total loan amount.

For parents who enroll in an auto-debit program with the bank that they are repaying the loan to, there is an automatic 0.25% interest rate deduction. Auto-debit basically facilitates the loan repayment by allowing the financial institution to automatically deduct the monthly payment.

A loan option also exists for graduate students. Student PLUS loans are available from the government for graduate students who need assistance with financing for books, tuition, housing and supplies. This loan, as well as the PLUS loan, is granted to anybody and they are not granted on a need basis. With a grad PLUS loan, there is a 3% origination fee and a 1% federal default fee, and both are deducted from the principal.

Parents as well as students also have the option of consolidating PLUS loans, which is a helpful tool that allows them to bundle all the federal loans into one single loan. The advantages are that it is simpler for keeping records, as well as up to 53% lower monthly payments. Also, there is a savings of 0.25% when the graduate student or the parent is enrolled in an auto-debit facility with their financial institution.

Options are now available for undergraduate and graduate students to attend college and get a tertiary education. PLUS loans make it much easier for them to acquire the kind of qualification they need to be able to make it in the work world.