Student loan interest rates for 2025-26: Expert estimate

The interest rate on federal direct undergraduate loans could be 6.39% in the 2025-2026 academic year, estimates Kantrowitz. The undergraduate rate for the 2024-2025 year is 6.53%.

At those new undergraduate rates, every $10,000 a family borrowed would lead to a $113 monthly student loan payment after graduation, assuming the student enrolled in a standard 10-year repayment plan. With interest, the borrower would repay $13,559.87 over that decade.

For graduate students, loans will likely come with an 7.94% interest rate, compared with the current 8.08%, Kantrowitz finds.

PLUS loans for graduate students and parents may have a 8.94% interest rate, a decrease from 9.08% now.

The government sets interest rates on its education loans once a year. The rates, which run from July 1 to June 30 of the following year, are based in part on the May auction of the 10-year Treasury note.

Kantrowitz based his calculations on the Treasury Department’s announced high yield rate on Tuesday of 4.34%.