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You may borrow up to the full cost of your education, less other financial aid including Federal Direct Loans, scholarships, grants, and tuition remission. If you receive additional aid or if your cost of attendance is reduced through a change in residency, your Graduate Plus eligibility will be adjusted.
View the cost of attendance.
The Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan is a federal loan that enables graduate and professional students with good credit histories to help meet educational expenses.
Even though the Graduate PLUS Loan is available to all graduate and professional students regardless of financial need, you must still file the FAFSA to be eligible.
The Graduate PLUS Loan has a higher interest rate than Federal Direct Loans and students should exhaust their Federal Direct Loan eligibility before applying for a Graduate PLUS Loan. A credit check is required, although credit requirements are less stringent than for alternative student loans.
For additional information concerning Federal Direct Loans including interest rates, fees, consolidation, deferments, and loan calculators, go to the Federal Student Aid website.
If you have an endorsed plus loan or an appeal approved you are required to complete the PLUS counseling component on the Federal Student Aid website. The Department of Education will inform you at the time of your appeal approval or when your PLUS loan is endorsed to complete this new PLUS counseling requirement. This item will appear as a To-Do list item in your MyUBalt portal and must be completed prior to the disbursement of your endorsed or appeal approved PLUS loan. Information for PLUS counseling requirements can be found at the Federal Student Aid website.
To receive any federal student loan (including the Graduate PLUS Loan), you must be enrolled at least half-time. For Graduate and Law students, half-time for fall and spring semesters is defined as six (6) credits. For Doctoral students, half-time for fall and spring semesters is defined as three (3) credits. Half-time during the summer semester is three (3) credits for graduate, law, doctoral and APD students.
Undergraduate students do not qualify for the Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan.
The application for the Graduate PLUS Loan can be found online at the Federal Student Aid website. Sign in using your Social Security number and your FSA ID. After you're signed in, choose "Request a Direct PLUS Loan" and follow the prompts. Include the following on your application to ensure successful processing:
Award Year 2024–2025 (for Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Summer 2025)
School Name: University of Baltimore
Loan Amount: Maximum amount (cost of attendance less any other aid) or specify your loan amount*
Loan Period:
*Your loan will have two disbursements if you choose a full year loan period. Half of your loan will disburse in the fall and the other half in the spring. For example, a $10,000 Graduate PLUS Loan will have a $5,000 disbursement in September and a $5,000 disbursement in February, less the origination fee.
Credit approval is based on federally mandated criteria and not your credit score. In order to qualify, you must not have any of the following items on your credit report:
Recent changes in the law that governs the terms and conditions of PLUS Loans establish a specific extenuating circumstance for certain PLUS Loan applicants who would otherwise be considered to have an adverse credit history. Specifically, a PLUS Loan applicant may qualify for a PLUS Loan based on extenuating circumstances if the applicant:
Credit approval is valid for three months. Your credit is evaluated every time you request a new loan unless you have had a credit decision within the preceding three months.
If you think you may have one or more of the items outlined in the credit requirements listed above you may want to obtain your credit report in advance. You may be able to fix an item such as the delinquency by simply making a payment and bringing your delinquency to less than 90 days. If you have had a situation with a discharge or collection item for example, you may be able to obtain a “settled in full” status if you work with the entity to reach a satisfactory arrangement. If you are able to fix an item, it is no longer considered in the credit evaluation and it may result in your credit being approved.
Correspondence will be sent to Direct PLUS Loan applicants, by Direct Loans, who receive an adverse credit determination. Information will include instructions to appeal the denial of a Direct PLUS Loan application. Such options include:
If you have an endorsed or appeal approved PLUS loan you will now be required to complete the PLUS counseling component on the Federal Student Aid website.
The Department of Education will inform you at the time of your appeal approval or when your PLUS loan is endorsed to complete this new PLUS counseling requirement. This item will appear as a To-Do list item in your MyUBalt portal and must be completed prior to the disbursement of your endorsed or appeal approved PLUS loan.
Information for PLUS counseling requirements can be found on the Federal Student Aid website.
For additional information about these options, contact Applicant Services at 1-800-557-7394.