How to Fill Out and Submit the Parent PLUS Loan Application

To fill out the Parent PLUS loan application, sign in at StudentAid.gov with your verified FSA ID, open the parent PLUS request for the correct award year, and complete the form in one sitting. It takes about 20 minutes and cannot be saved and resumed later, so gather your information first. Submitting the application triggers an immediate credit check; if you pass, you then sign a separate Master Promissory Note before the school can disburse any money.1Federal Student Aid. Apply for a Parent PLUS Loan

What to Have Ready Before You Start

Because the application will not let you save partway through, assemble everything before you log in:

  • Your verified FSA ID username and password. This is also your legal electronic signature. If you don’t have one yet, create it at StudentAid.gov/fsa-id and allow up to three days for Social Security Administration verification.
  • Social Security numbers for you and the student.
  • The name of the school where the student is enrolled at least half-time. Entering the school pulls up its federal school code and links your request to the financial aid office.
  • Your current employer’s name and address.
  • Permanent addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth for you and the student.
  • A decision on how much to request. You can enter a specific dollar amount or ask for the maximum the school will certify (cost of attendance minus other aid). A specific amount caps the loan there even if unmet need remains.

Two other decisions belong on this list because the application asks you to make them and they affect how the money moves. First, whether to authorize the school to apply PLUS funds toward charges beyond tuition, fees, and room and board, such as bookstore charges. Second, who receives any credit balance if the loan exceeds the student’s direct institutional charges: you or the student. Think both through before you start the form.1Federal Student Aid. Apply for a Parent PLUS Loan

Filling Out the Application Step by Step

Go to studentaid.gov/plus-app/parent/landing and log in with your FSA ID. From there the form moves through a predictable sequence.

Select the award year. Pick the year that matches the student’s enrollment. For a fall 2026 start, that is 2026–2027. Choosing the wrong year is one of the most common causes of delay, because the school cannot certify a loan tied to the wrong enrollment period.

Enter the school. Type the institution’s name. The system fills in the federal school code and connects your application to that school’s financial aid system.

Enter your loan amount preference. Choose either a specific dollar figure or the maximum the school will certify. If you ask for the maximum, the financial aid office runs the cost-of-attendance-minus-aid calculation for you.

Make the two disbursement elections. Authorize (or decline) the school to apply funds to charges beyond tuition, fees, room, and board, and designate whether any credit balance goes to you or to the student.

Enter demographic and employer information. Fill in current address, phone number, date of birth, and employer name and address. Do the same for the student where the form asks.

Review and sign. Go back through every field before submitting. Once you apply your electronic signature with your FSA ID, the application locks, the credit check runs, and the data transmits to the school. The full session runs about 20 minutes.1Federal Student Aid. Apply for a Parent PLUS Loan

The Credit Check and What Happens if You’re Denied

The Department of Education runs an automated credit check the moment you submit, and you’ll usually see the result on-screen right away. If you pass, the approved application data flows to the school’s financial aid office, typically within one to three business days.

Federal regulations treat you as having an adverse credit history if you have one or more debts with a combined outstanding balance above $2,085 that are 90 or more days delinquent, or that were placed in collection or charged off during the two years before the credit report date. A bankruptcy discharge, foreclosure, repossession, tax lien, wage garnishment, or write-off of a Title IV debt in the past five years also counts.2eCFR. 34 CFR 685.200 – Borrower Eligibility

If the check comes back adverse, you have three options:

  • Add an endorser. An endorser agrees to repay the loan if you can’t, must not have an adverse credit history, and cannot be the student. On denial you receive a PLUS Application ID number, which the endorser needs to complete their portion online. Both you and the endorser must finish PLUS Credit Counseling before the loan is approved.3Federal Student Aid. Direct Loan Counseling
  • Document extenuating circumstances. Submit a written statement and supporting documents showing the negative items resulted from unusual situations. The Department reviews these case by case, and approval also requires PLUS Credit Counseling.4Federal Student Aid. Extenuating Circumstances
  • Decline to pursue either option. If you do, the dependent student becomes eligible for additional Direct Unsubsidized Loan funds beyond the normal dependent limit. Contact the financial aid office to have the student’s award adjusted.5Federal Student Aid. Student and Parent Eligibility for Direct Loans

Signing the Master Promissory Note

The Master Promissory Note (MPN) is a separate legal document, not part of the application itself, in which you promise to repay the principal, interest, and fees to the Department of Education.6Federal Student Aid. Completing a Master Promissory Note You sign one Parent PLUS MPN for each dependent child you borrow for, even when they attend the same school.

Complete it at studentaid.gov/mpn/parentplus/landing. The form asks for two personal references who have known you for at least three years and live at different U.S. addresses. Neither reference can share an address with you or with each other. For each one, provide full name, permanent address, phone number, and relationship to you. Confirm your own permanent address and contact information; legal notices for the life of the loan go there.

After reviewing the terms, apply your electronic signature with your FSA ID. This locks the document and sends it to the federal database for matching with the school’s records. The school cannot disburse any funds until both the approved application and a signed MPN are on file.

What Happens After Submission

The school’s financial aid office certifies your loan by confirming enrollment and that the amount does not exceed cost of attendance minus other aid. It then sets a disbursement schedule aligned with the academic term, and the federal government sends the money to the institution to pay tuition, fees, room, board, and any other charges you authorized.

If the loan is larger than the student’s direct institutional charges, a credit balance is refunded according to the preference you selected on the application. If you chose to receive it yourself, expect a check mailed to the permanent address you entered; direct deposit typically isn’t available for parent refunds, and mailing can take seven to ten business days after disbursement. If you chose the student, they get it by check or by direct deposit if they’ve set that up with the school.

Shortly after disbursement you’ll receive a disclosure statement from your assigned federal loan servicer showing the finalized loan amount, the interest rate, the origination fee deducted, and the date repayment begins.

Borrowing Limits, Rate, and Fee to Know Before You Enter an Amount

Two numbers on the application deserve context: the amount you request and what you’ll actually receive.

Starting with the 2026–2027 award year, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act caps Parent PLUS borrowing at $20,000 per student per year and $65,000 per student in the aggregate, combining all parents’ borrowing for that student.7Federal Student Aid. One Big Beautiful Bill Act – Important Definitions Before July 2026 there was no aggregate cap, and parents borrowing under the old rules may have a limited transition window during which the pre-OBBBA cost-of-attendance-minus-aid formula still applies. Check the StudentAid.gov announcements page for exact eligibility. First-time borrowers starting in 2026–2027 are under the new caps from day one, so a student who takes $20,000 each year would hit the $65,000 lifetime limit before senior year.

For loans first disbursed between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026, the fixed interest rate is 8.94%.8Federal Student Aid. Direct PLUS Loans for Parents For loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, the 2026–2027 rate is 9.07%. Once set at disbursement, the rate stays fixed for the life of that loan.

An origination fee of 4.228% applies to PLUS loans disbursed through September 30, 2026, and is deducted proportionally from each disbursement before the money reaches the school. On a $10,000 loan, roughly $423 never arrives at the institution, but you repay the full $10,000 plus interest. The origination fee effective October 1, 2026, is recalculated annually and posted on StudentAid.gov. Factor both the fee and the annual and lifetime caps into the amount you request on the form.