Federal student loan interest rates are scheduled to go down effective with loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2016. The rates on undergraduate Direct Loans will drop from 4.29 percent to 3.76 percent for the 2016-17 academic year. Graduate Direct Loan rates will be 5.31, lower than the current rate of 5.84 percent. The rate on PLUS loans, both parent loans for dependent undergraduates and those for graduate borrowers, will drop from 6.84 to 6.31 percent.