A Lexington woman last week became the first beneficiary of a new federal loan program which helps parents finance their children's college educations with tuition-based loans.

Barbara Ciampa received $2500 from the Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) program, which went into effect January 1.

The PLUS program, administered by the Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation, will enable middle-and even upper-income parents to pay college costs "to a greater extent than ever before," David Johnson, a spokesman for the assistance corporation said yesterday.

The new system allows parents to borrow up to $3000 per student, with a maximum of $15,000 per family, over the four-year period. The tuition of the student's college--and not his family's income--primarily determines the size of the PLUS loans, Johnson said.

The new program differs from the older Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) because parents, not students, apply for the PLUS loans, Johnson said. The PLUS program also requires parents to begin to repay the loan 60 days after disbursement, while under HELP, "the kid has to begin repayment within six months of graduating or dropping out" of college, he added.