Federal student loan rates about to rise

Borrowers can expect to pay more for federal student loans, beginning July 1.

The federal government sets interest rates on student loans annually, based on a formula adopted in 2013. The rate on new undergraduate Stafford loans, one of the most popular student loans, will rise to 4.45 percent, up from 3.76 percent this year.

Rates for graduate student Stafford loans will increase to 6 percent, up from 5.31 percent. And rates on PLUS loans, available to parents as well as graduate students, will rise to 7 percent, up from 6.31 percent.

The Education Department has not officially announced the new rates, but they can be calculated based on the government’s formula, said Mark Kantrowitz, a financial aid expert. He lays out the math on Cappex.com, a college funding website where he serves as publisher and vice president of strategy.

(Rates on student loans track the rate on the 10-year Treasury note at the spring May auction, plus an added fixed rate, depending on the type of loan. As a result of the Treasury Department’s auction Wednesday, student loan rates will rise for the 2017-18 academic year.)

So, does this mean students should hurry to borrow before the end of June?

If you are a new student who will be a college freshman in the fall, you can’t borrow federal loans before July 1, Kantrowitz said. In other words: You are stuck with the higher rates for next year.

If you are a current student, you can borrow for this academic year (which runs July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017) at existing rates if you are still eligible. The amount students can borrow is capped. However, you “cannot borrow next year’s loans at this year’s rates,” Kantrowitz said in an email.

He also said that while rates were going up, they remained low compared with the historical average for federal student loans.

Here are some questions and answers about student loans:

Do rates on federal student loans change over time?

No. Rates on federal student loans have been fixed for the past decade. The rate changes annually for loans made in a given year but remains fixed for the life of the loan. (Some older loans may have variable rates, Asher said.)

Is there a limit to how much I can borrow?

Yes, there are limits on how much students can borrow from the federal government each year, as well as caps on total borrowing. The limits depend on various criteria, like the student’s year in college and the type of loan. Asher said that while interest rates were rising, borrowing caps were expected to stay the same.

Undergraduates who are dependents — most students younger than 24 — can borrow up to $5,500 as freshmen, $6,500 as sophomores and $7,500 as juniors and seniors.