PLUS Loan

The things parents do for their kids. Change diapers, help with homework, cover up murders, and, of course, take on enormous debt for their education, even as retirement looms closer and closer on the horizon. Which is where the PLUS loan comes in.

The "PLUS" in "PLUS loan" originally stood for "Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students." It represents a loan for education taken out by the parents, rather than the students.

The loan program, first created in 1965, is backed by the U.S. government, much like the Stafford and Perkins loans that students can receive. The interest rates for PLUS loans are fixed at 7.9%.