"It's harder these days to get private loans for college, but some families are also having trouble getting a federal parent loan," McClatchy-Tribune reports. "There are no national statistics on PLUS loan denial rates. But according to Department of Education figures, the dollar amount of parent loans for the three months ended in June was $728.5 million, down 28.7 percent from the corresponding period a year earlier. That indicates that some parents might be having a tougher time qualifying for a loan. And indeed, some Maryland schools have reported an increase in loan denials from a year ago."