This article on high student loan interest rates starts out scary—but keep reading. There’s excitement and hope below.
Student loan interest rates are increasing—yes—but what does that mean to you? Let’s do some quick math.
Two sentences about student loan interest that hit hard:
Picture a teen you love taking out $50,000 in federal student loans to pay for college—at the standard 6.53% federal undergraduate student loan interest rate. When this boy finishes college, he’ll have to pay $273 each month just to cover the interest on his student loans.
Gulp. A student who does this will pay $3250 that first year, and at the end still owe $50,000.
Now picture your family—free from all worry about student loan interest.
I can help you avoid all student loan interest, and I can provide this help to you FOR FREE.
Here’s how parents get my help for free:
1. Forget about applying for scholarships. I help families achieve debt-free college and thriving career using easier strategies that don’t require applying for scholarships.
2. Get the book I wrote on Amazon—or if money’s tight for you—at the library. Any librarian will order it for you. Read chapters 1 and 2 only.
3. You’ll see immediately that my step-by-step guidance only requires you to read one chapter just about every three months as your kids are growing up.
Start now. You can do this. Get an inspiring jump-start on this by viewing this 10-minute video training.
Whether your child ends up enrolling in a four-year college or not, you’ll find reading this book bit by bit as the years pass feels like having a personal guide walking you through every step of your child’s launch process.
This will feel helpful and reassuring, and it will ensure you’re fully informed of all the most brilliant college and career strategies at the best possible times to take action on them. The careful steps I suggest will keep you securely on track, and they will keep you from the number-one sad lament I hear from parents who hear about a great strategy years too late: “Oh, I’d give anything if I had just known about this sooner!”
And if you’re reading along in the book and have specific questions for me? Join my TRIBE Membership.
Read what this grandma said about the book I wrote:
“If you can buy one book to help you understand how to get your child ‘through college debt-free AND into jobs they love,’ ‘LAUNCH….’ by Jeannie Burlowski is the book you need. I am a grandmother of a high school junior. I thought I was getting a head start this past fall during his junior year. Now it is December and time is flying. I wasted much time watching Zoom meetings and reading websites which led to sales pitches for expensive advising promising to ‘get your kid into the Ivies.’ THIS BOOK begins with advice season by season starting in SEVENTH GRADE. After reading information for the junior year (starting on page 205), I went back to the beginning and realized what a difference it would have made to me and to his parents and for HIM if we had begun this book in middle school. Even so, it is helping us now. Wherever you are in college planning, particularly in paying for it, I highly recommend this book.”
–M.B., grandmother
(Caring grandparents can get specific help by listening to me being interviewed on the Cool Grandpa podcast.)
Parents, avoid Parent PLUS loans at all costs. Their interest rates are higher, and they’re harder to pay off.
The interest rate for Parent PLUS loans is a whopping 8.94%. But that’s not the worst of it.
Parent PLUS loans are loans you as a parent have to pay off.
Betsy Mayotte of the nonprofit freestudentloanadvice.org reports, ” . . . a recent study by the Brookings Institution indicates that the average Parent PLUS borrower still owes at least half of what they borrowed after 10 years in repayment. Black and Hispanic families suffer these struggles disproportionately among federal loan borrowers. It is also notable to mention that 25% of existing Parent PLUS borrowers are over 60 years old.”
And if you’re thinking the government will give you a payment plan, and then forgive the rest of what you owe after 25 years? Those protections used to exist, but they were abolished by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025.
Read the article I wrote about Parent PLUS loan dangers here.
Help us spread the word about this!
It’s our goal to help as many families as possible. Copy this entire article and paste it right into your school, business, or homeschool newsletter. Put a link to it in your Facebook group! Just include the words “By Jeannie Burlowski.”
No more worries about high student loan interest when you’re walking through the clear steps in my book:
Important—> It’s a reference book, so nobody reads the whole thing cover to cover. Pick out what you need to read using the fast-paced, 10-minute video instructions here.
You can see hundreds of reviews of this book on Amazon by going to:
Read just one chapter of LAUNCH every 1–3 months while your child’s in middle school and high school, and you’ll know every viable strategy for debt-free college at exactly the right time to implement it.
And if your child’s already well past middle school? That’s OK; you can run to catch up. But the process of getting your kids through college debt-free goes more smoothly the earlier you start—especially if you’re not planning to save up any money to pay for college.
Let's you and I walk together toward the goal of debt-free college for your kids.
We can accomplish this no matter your current income level—even if your kids never get a single scholarship.
Your first step is getting regularly scheduled, free helpful articles from me—right in your email inbox. Quick, sign up here.
Do you have very specific questions for me about debt-free college and career for your kids?
My TRIBE Members get the most direct access to me—while feeling good that the pennies per day they spend on the TRIBE help me bring debt-free college strategy to families who could never afford to pay for it. Join my TRIBE Membership waiting list here. (The parent testimonials you'll see there are so encouraging!)
Who is Jeannie Burlowski?
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free, ready to jump directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News & World Report, as well as on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com. You can follow her on Bluesky @jburlowski.bsky.social.
This article was written by a caring human expert. AI tools may have assisted with research or editing.
This article was updated on May 25th, 2026