HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency has launched a Medical and Health Professional Loan Program to help graduate students affected by the loss of the federal Graduate PLUS Program.

The program offers competitive fixed interest rates, no application or origination fees, a 0.50% interest rate reduction for graduating and flexible repayment options. Repayment can be deferred during residency, fellowship, internship, research and other clinical training.

PHEAA officials said the program is intended to fill funding gaps for students pursuing advanced degrees in medical, dental, veterinary and other health‑related fields. Graduate students in engineering, education, law, MBA programs and other disciplines may apply through PHEAA’s existing Graduate Loan Program.

Applications are available at pheaa.org/medical, pheaa.org/health-professional and paforward.pheaa.org/grad.