Federal Parent PLUS Loans

Follow these instructions to borrow Federal Parent PLUS Loans for undergraduate students.

For more information about this loan program including interest rates, see PLUS Loans.

Application Steps

Every year, the student and parent must submit a (Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). One parent borrower must complete all of the PLUS Loan steps below. 

Calculate Your Loan Amount

Funds Needed:  You can borrow loan funds to pay your TU charges and your other living and personal expenses.  To calculate how much you need to borrow for this academic year (Fall & Spring), compare your total grants/scholarships to your estimated costs.  Use our estimated Cost of Attendance Budgets or review our current rates for tuition, room, and board. 

Maximum Loan:  Your maximum PLUS loan amount = your Cost of Attendance Budget minus all your other financial aid.

Loan Fees:  For loans with first disbursements between 10/1/20 and 9/30/24, before they disburse your loan funds, the federal government will deduct a 4.228% loan fee from the amount you borrow. 

Final Loan Amount:  After you calculate the total loan funds you need to receive, adjust the amounts you request to compensate for the loan fees that they will deduct from your loan disbursements. 

High Debt Warning

The Federal PLUS Loan program usually offers lower borrowing costs than private student loans and includes several additional benefits.  However, because the PLUS Loan credit check process only checks for a bad credit history and doesn't evaluate your ability to afford your loan payments based on your debt to income ratio, it is easy to get approved for more than you can afford to repay.  To evaluate how much you can afford to borrow, please carefully explore these and other resources.

2023-2024 PLUS Loan Application Instructions

  1. Go to studentaid.gov/plus-app.
  2. The parent borrower must log in with the parent's Federal Student Aid ID.
  3. Choose Request a Direct PLUS Loan and complete the application.
  4. A few days after you submit this application, you should receive an email reply with your credit check results.
  5. If you don’t receive a reply, check your status at studentaid.gov/plus-app.

Rebate Options:  To avoid rebate check delays: Under Credit Balance Options, choose "The Student" (Parent rebate checks take several weeks longer).

Loan Amount:  Choose your loan amount for this whole school year (Fall and Spring).  This amount will be evenly split between the fall and spring semesters.  Review your estimated costs and expenses.

Loan Period:  For Fall 2023 to Spring 2024 loans, use 8/2023 to 5/2024. 

Parent Master Promissory Note (MPN)

  1. New parent borrowers must also visit studentaid.gov/mpn/ to complete a PLUS MPN for Parents.
  2. Repeat parent borrowers should confirm that their MPN is already on file by visiting studentaid.gov/fsa-id/sign-in then My Loan Documents → Completed MPNs.
  3. Four to six weeks after the parent completes these steps and the student has registered for classes, your PLUS funds will appear on your TU bill as Anticipated Aid.

Viewing Your TU Bill

Tips and Common Errors

  • All borrowers need a valid MPN and need to reapply annually.
  • Pay careful attention to which fields want student identity data and which fields want parent borrower data.
  • Enter full legal names for student and parent borrower.
  • One parent is the borrower and that parent must complete all application steps (MPN and Application/Request).
  • The Loan Period can never exceed one academic year.

Rebates When Two Parents Borrow

If two divorced/separated parents borrow separate PLUS loans for the same student, and the total semester aid exceeds the semester charges and creates any aid rebates, TU can't control how aid rebates will be distributed between the two parents.  To avoid rebate problems, when borrowing the loan on the federal website, both parents should specify that the rebate should be issued to the student, and then the student and parents must coordinate how those rebate funds will be managed by the student or redistributed between the parents.

PLUS Loan Denial Options

If the federal loan processor denied your PLUS loan because of an adverse credit history, you have the following options: appeal the denial, appeal with an endorser, request additional unsubsidized loans.

Appeal the Denial

If you feel the reason that the PLUS loan was denied is no longer valid, you may appeal the credit decision with Federal Student Aid. 

  1. Parent borrower must log into studentaid.gov/appeal-credit/ with their FSA ID. 
  2. Under PLUS Loan Process select Document Extenuated Circumstances.
  3. Submit documentation showing the denial reason is no longer valid. If approved, Federal Student Aid will submit an approved PLUS loan to the financial aid office. 

Appeal With an Endorser

If you are unable to successfully appeal the credit decision, you may also find an endorser to co-sign your PLUS loan application. Choose an endorser with a strong credit history. 

  1. Your Endorser must log into studentaid.gov/endorser-addendum/ with their own FSA ID .
  2. Under PLUS Loan Process select Endorse a PLUS Loan.
  3. Enter the borrower's last name and the endorser code/award identification number the parent borrower received when denied the loan. 
  4. Fill out and submit Endorser Addendum.

Request Additional Unsubsidized Loans

If your parent is unable to appeal the credit decision or use an endorser, the student will become eligible to borrow additional unsubsidized loans based on the PLUS denial. 

  1. Submit a PLUS Denial — Request for Additional Unsub, found at Forms & Online Services. 
  2. Students with 0-59 completed credits can request an additional $4,000 in unsubsidized loans for the financial aid year ($2,000/semester). 
  3. Students with at least 60 completed credits can request an additional $5,000 in unsubsidized loans for the financial aid year ($2,500/semester).