On February 8, 2002, President Bush signed legislation changing the interest rates on education loans from variable rates to fixed rates for new loans issued after July 1, 2006. The interest rate on the Stafford Loan is 6.8% and the interest rate on the PLUS Loan is 7.9%. The scheduled increase in the PLUS Loan interest rate was subsequently changed from 7.9% to 8.5% by the Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005, as passed on February 8, 2006. This bill, however, failed to make a parallel change to the Direct Loan program, so only the FFEL PLUS Loan interest rate will be increasing to 8.5%. Thus the fixed rates on new loans for which the first disbursement occurs on or after July 1, 2006 are: 6.8% Stafford, 7.9% Federal Direct PLUS and 8.5% FFEL PLUS.