Office of Student Aid : Graduate Students : Loans

Many graduate students must rely on loans to cover at least some portion of their graduate school costs. In fact, approximately 72% of all Penn State's aid recipients borrow federal loans.

The following steps represent borrowing options beginning with the best value and proceeding to other, less favorable loan options based on interest rates, loan terms and conditions, and repayment options. These loan options may be used alone or in combination with each other. Select the loan links below for more information about each option.

Step 1:

Perkins Loan
Loan programs awarded to our highest-need students.

Federal Direct Stafford Loan
A federal loan program awarded to all students.

Step 2:

Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan
When graduate students need funding beyond the Stafford or Perkins Loan, they may apply for the Graduate PLUS Loan.

Step 3:

Alternative Loans
Students who need additional funds after carefully considering the feasibility of loan options in Steps 1 and 2--or students who are ineligible for federal aid--may need to apply for an alternative loan.

To better evaluate the Federal Direct Graduate PLUS and alternative loans, please review the PLUS vs. alternative loan side-by-side comparison.