The original, now obsolete, meaning of the acronym was "Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students".
PLUS loans share some similarities with the Stafford and Perkins loans offered to students:[citation needed] Like the Stafford Loan program, the PLUS program changed to a higher, but fixed rate, structure for loans disbursed after midnight, July 1, 2006.
The rate offered through the Direct Loan Program was 7.9%.
[citation needed] Additionally, the PLUS program was made available for graduate and professional students to borrow to finance their own educations, commonly referred to as the Grad PLUS loan.
For PLUS loans made to parents that are first disbursed on or after July 1, 2008, the borrower has the option of beginning repayment on the PLUS loan either 60 days after the loan is fully disbursed or wait until six months after the dependent student on whose behalf the parent borrowed ceases to be enrolled on at least a half-time basis.