Interest Paid While Enrolled
Your Federal Direct PLUS loan has a fixed interest rate of 6.28% for loans disbursed in the 2021-2022 academic year. Upon entering repayment, you may earn a 0.25% interest rate reduction when you sign up for auto-debit payments.
Wisconsin Lutheran College will pay up to the first 3% of charged interest on the disbursed amount of any Federal Direct PLUS Loan ranging from $3,000 to $20,000 except in the first year* for any loan outstanding at June 30.
* Because the loan servicer will not charge interest for a full year until second semester, WLC will pay up to one-half of the 3% interest in the first year.
Payments To Your Servicer: Payments will be made to your servicer at the end of each academic year (June 30) for the outstanding balance at June 30 while your student remains enrolled at WLC. The servicer will apply the payment first to any outstanding interest and then to the principal balance.
Fees and Interest Rate
6.28% fixed interest rate for PLUS loans borrowed for 2021-2022.
A 4.228% fee is subtracted from each disbursement (subject to change by U.S. Department of Education).
Payment Schedule
Because this is a PLUS loan for parents, half of the principal (minus 4.228% fee) is disbursed at the beginning of the fall semester and half (minus 4.228% fee) is disbursed at the beginning of the spring semester. The first payment will be due approximately 60 days after the second disbursement. This means you have several months to save more money before the first payment is due.*
*If necessary, you may request to defer payment until the student is out of college. However, the total cost of the loan will be significantly higher because of the delay in making payments.
No Prepayment Penalties
You can make additional payments on the loan at any time while the student is in school or out. In fact, you can make larger payments every month than what is minimally required, or you can make lump sum payments at any time to help reduce the amount of the loan. You will have lower monthly payments than typical payment plan options. Using a conventional tuition payment plan, a family that owes $12,000 on their child's college education for the coming year would be expected to make eight monthly payments of $1,500 each, starting August 1, 2021. Borrowing a $12,000 PLUS loan would result in payments of about $142 a month, or more if your budget allowed, and payments would start in the spring term of 2022. That's less due each month and more time to prepare for the monthly payments.
Anticipated Direct PLUS Estimated Payments for Families - Interest and Principal*
| Annual Direct PLUS Loan Amount | Year 1 (starts Spring 2022) |
|---|
| $3,000 | $50 |
| $6,000 | $71 |
| $12,000 | $142 |
| $20,000 | $237 |
*Assumes a constant 7.5% interest rate and payments occurring over 10 years with a minimum payment of $50
Annual Program Review: The 2021-2022 PLUS Partner Program terms are guaranteed for PLUS loans borrowed and disbursed in 2021-2022. Wisconsin Lutheran College reserves the right to change these program terms for PLUS loans borrowed in future years.
Post Graduation Repayment
Families who borrow the PLUS loan each year will have four loans (one for each year of school) when their student graduates. Each loan has its own separate 10-year repayment period at a separate fixed interest rate. You can prepay the PLUS loan at any time without penalty, while the student is in school or out, in lump sum or in higher monthly payments.