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Summary: FAFSA Requirement for GRAD PLUS Loans

Publication Date: February 19, 2008

Author: Jeff Baker, Director Policy Liaison and Implementation, Federal Student Aid

Summary: FAFSA Requirement for GRAD PLUS Loans


Posted on 02-19-2008


This announcement is to remind institutions of the requirement that graduate and professional students who apply for a PLUS loan must also complete a FAFSA so that the Department can perform matches with other federal databases that help determine a student’s eligibility for Title IV federal student assistance. In Dear Colleague Letter GEN-06-02, that provided a summary of the provisions of the Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005, we discussed the eligibility of graduate and professional students for PLUS loans under both the FFEL and Direct Lending programs. Part of that discussion included the following sentence – “Applicants for these [PLUS] loans are required to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). They also must have applied for their annual loan maximum eligibility under the Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized Stafford Loan Program before applying for a Graduate/Professional PLUS loan.”.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.