"The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority has completed its $400 million bond offering and can now offer student loans for the rest of the 2008-2009 school year," The Boston Globe reports. "The authority said today that it will offer a 7.75 percent fixed rate, lower than the federal government's 8.5 percent rate on a parent PLUS loan. MEFA makes loans to undergraduate and graduate students in Massachusetts and to residents of the Commonwealth who attend schools in other states. The authority borrowed the funds at a rate of 6.2 percent."