See How You Can Qualify for Competitive Graduate Student Loans What are Student Loan Fees and How Do They Work? Next, it’s worth explaining the fees borrowers can expect with federal student loans. Student loan fees for federal loans are also called “origination fees.” This is money you pay to a lender for processing the loan application. Instead of a flat price, these origination fees are commonly a percentage of the total amount of your loan. An origination fee for a new borrower may fall somewhere around one percent of the total value of the loan, but it’s important to check with your lender or institution first. You also need to remember there is a total limit on the amount grad students can borrow in federal student loans. This is also known as your aggregate l...