How Long After Graduation Are Student Loans Due?

For most federal student loans, your first payment is due six months after you graduate. That six-month window, called the grace period, applies to Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans, which are the standard loans undergraduate and graduate students receive.¹ PLUS Loans, older Perkins Loans, and private loans follow different schedules, so the answer depends on what you borrowed.

The Six-Month Rule for Direct Loans

If you took out Direct Subsidized or Unsubsidized Loans, your repayment clock starts six months after you graduate, withdraw, or drop below half-time enrollment.¹ You do not have to apply for it. Once your school reports the change in your enrollment status to the Department of Education, the grace period begins automatically.

Your loan servicer is required to send you a billing statement at least 21 days before your first payment is due.² Before that statement arrives, log into the Federal Student Aid portal to confirm which servicer handles your loans and pick a repayment plan.

What Actually Starts the Clock

Graduation is the most common trigger, but not the only one. Any of the following starts your six-month countdown:

Graduating with your degree.
Withdrawing before finishing.
Dropping below half-time enrollment, which is typically fewer than six credits per semester for undergraduates.¹

Schools report enrollment changes to the National Student Loan Data System, which passes the information to your servicer. There can be a short lag, but do not count on that as extra time. Track your grace period end date in your servicer’s account portal.

Whether Interest Grows Before the First Bill

Whether your balance grows during those six months depends on which type of Direct Loan you have.

On Direct Subsidized Loans, the federal government pays the interest that accrues while you are in school and during the grace period. Your balance holds steady.³

Unsubsidized loans accrue interest from the day they are disbursed, and that includes the grace period.¹ The interest that piles up during those months does not get added to your principal while you are still in the grace period, but once you enter repayment it can capitalize, meaning it is rolled into the principal. From that point forward you pay interest on a larger balance.³

You can prevent capitalization by making interest-only payments before repayment officially begins. Even modest payments during the grace period keep the balance from ballooning.

PLUS Loans Don’t Get the Same Six Months

Federal PLUS Loans work on a different schedule than Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans, and the difference catches many parents off guard.

Parent PLUS Loans

Parent PLUS Loans have no built-in grace period. If you borrowed on behalf of a student, your first payment is due within 60 days of the final disbursement, often while the student is still in school.⁴⁵ To postpone payments, you have to contact your loan servicer and request a deferment. It is not automatic. If approved, the deferment delays payments until six months after the student graduates, leaves school, or drops below half-time enrollment.⁶

Graduate PLUS Loans

Graduate PLUS Loans technically enter repayment as soon as the loan is fully disbursed, with the first payment due within 60 days. You can request an in-school deferment that delays repayment until six months after you drop below half-time enrollment, which lines the timeline up with standard Direct Loans.⁶

Older Perkins Loans

Federal Perkins Loans came with a nine-month grace period rather than six.⁷ No new Perkins Loans have been issued since the program’s authority expired on September 30, 2017, with final disbursements ending June 30, 2018.⁸ If you still carry a Perkins Loan from before that cutoff, the nine-month timeline still applies to your loan.

Private Loans Follow the Contract, Not Federal Rules

Banks, credit unions, and online lenders that issue private student loans set their own repayment schedules. Some mirror the federal six-month grace period. Others require monthly payments from the moment the loan is disbursed. The only reliable answer is in your promissory note.

Read your loan agreement or call the lender directly. Look for whether there is any post-graduation grace period, how interest is treated before repayment, and what fees apply for late payments. Private lenders typically charge late fees as either a percentage of the past-due amount or a flat dollar figure.

Default happens faster on private loans, too. Some contracts allow the lender to declare default the moment you miss a single payment, and some trigger default if you file for bankruptcy or default on an unrelated loan.⁹ Private loans also lack income-driven repayment and federal forgiveness programs, so knowing your terms before the first bill arrives matters more than with federal debt.

If You Can’t Afford the First Payment

Once the grace period ends, you have options besides simply missing payments.

Income-driven repayment (IDR) plans set your monthly payment based on your income and family size. In some cases the calculated payment can be as low as zero dollars.¹⁰ The SAVE Plan introduced in 2023 has been blocked by court action, and the Department of Education is no longer enrolling new borrowers in it.¹¹ Plans currently available include Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), and Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR). A new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) is expected to become the primary IDR option for newly disbursed loans starting in July 2026. Because this area changes quickly, check the Federal Student Aid site for current enrollment options.

Deferment temporarily stops payments under specific qualifying circumstances such as going back to school, active military service, or documented economic hardship. On subsidized loans, interest does not accrue during most deferment periods.¹²

Forbearance also pauses or reduces payments, but interest keeps accruing on all loan types during forbearance. You can request it from your servicer when you are struggling financially but do not qualify for deferment.¹⁰

What Happens If You Just Don’t Pay

Missing your first payment starts a sequence of consequences that gets worse the longer you wait.

At 90 days past due, your servicer reports the delinquency to the three national credit bureaus. The late status keeps updating on your credit report in 30-day intervals through 180+ days, which can seriously damage your credit score.¹³
At 270 days past due, your federal student loan goes into default.¹⁴
Once in default, the government can garnish up to 15 percent of your paycheck, seize your federal tax refund, and withhold other federal benefits, all without a court order. You also lose access to deferment, forbearance, and income-driven repayment plans until the default is resolved.¹⁴

Private loans can hit default well before 270 days, depending on the contract.⁹ If you realize you cannot make an upcoming payment, call your servicer before the due date. Switching to an income-driven plan, requesting forbearance, or arranging a partial payment all protect you far more than silence does.

1
MOHELA – Official Servicer of Federal Student Aid. Grace Period
2
Federal Student Aid. How to Prepare for Student Loan Payments
3
Federal Student Aid. Interest Rates and Fees for Federal Student Loans
4
Aidvantage. In Your Grace Period
5
Edfinancial Services. Federal Parent PLUS Loans
6
U.S. Department of Education. Direct PLUS Loan Basics for Parents
7
eCFR. 34 CFR 674.31 – Promissory Note
8
Federal Student Aid. Perkins Loans
9
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Happens If I Default on a Private Student Loan?
10
Federal Student Aid. Student Loan Forbearance
11
Federal Student Aid. IDR Court Actions
12
Federal Student Aid. Student Loan Deferment
13
Central Research Inc. (CRI). Credit Reporting
14
Federal Student Aid. Student Loan Default and Collections FAQs