Written By Travis Hornsby, CFA®, CFP®
You wanted to support your child by paying a big part of the cost of their undergraduate education. After all, the Stafford loan limits only allow your son or daughter to take out a mid-four-figure loan amount every year. Plus, the financial aid office sold the Parent PLUS loan program as a source of student loans from the federal government that would cover all of the cost of attendance.
Maybe you haven't thought about how you would pay off Parent PLUS loans until recently. Unfortunately, I’ve seen plenty of families where the parent owes a huge loan balance of Parent Plus loans, and it’s interfering with their retirement goals.
If you have to pay off a Parent PLUS loan after funding your child's education, the good news is you have more options to pay it back than you think. But, many of the best options like double consolidation are being taken away from parents beginning in July 2025 due to the next IDR regulations released on June 30, 2023.
Use this Parent PLUS Loan calculator we built to see why you might not need to actually pay your Parent PLUS Loan off. We'll cover the five best strategies I’ve seen to get parents out of Parent Plus loan debt.
1. Using PSLF for Parent PLUS Loans
Many parents have a misconception that Parent PLUS loans aren’t eligible for student loan forgiveness for public servants. They might meet eligibility requirements for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program but face significant hurdles to qualify.
Here’s an example that might apply to you. You’ve worked for decades in the public sector and wonder if there’s a way to get your experience to count retroactively. If it was possible, you might already have the 10 years of payment history needed to receive tax-free loan forgiveness.
There are several catches. To get Parent PLUS loan forgiveness, you must:
- Consolidate Parent PLUS into a Direct Consolidation Loan.
- Make payments on the ICR plan for 10 years on the new Consolidation Loan.
- Work full-time at a qualifying 501c3 or government employer.
You might ask what the ICR program is? It stands for Income Contingent Repayment (ICR). This plan requires you to pay 20% of your income above the federal poverty line for your family size.
Calculate Your Parent PLUS Loan Payments and Forgiveness Path
Parent PLUS Loan CalculatorParent PLUS Payment Example
For example, let's say your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) on your tax return is $42,000. Your family size is two. In this case, you would deduct the current poverty guidelines amount of $19,720 (as of 2023) from the AGI, and multiply the result by 20%. Hence, the ICR payment in this scenario would be $4,456 over the course of the year. This amount would be split up into monthly payment amounts of about $371.33.
The issue with the ICR plan is that your payments can get very high very quickly. Other income-driven repayment plan programs like SAVE and PAYE only ask for 10% of your income. Additionally, they give you a higher deduction. These payment plans are not available for Parent PLUS loans.
Hence, the typical parent who would pay off her Parent Plus loans before receiving any forgiveness. Usually, parents have not consolidated their loans yet before they contact me. Therefore, the additional 10 years of full-time work usually kills the idea as well. For some, though, PSLF could be a saving grace.
There's also the Parent Plus loophole to consider, which I'll explain more in #5 below.
2. Refinancing Parent Plus Loans into your name only
If you want to know how to pay off Parent PLUS loans quickly, refinancing is worth looking into. Virtually every major lender will agree to refinance Parent Plus loans into your name only. After all, Parent Plus loans are legally your responsibility, not your child’s.
Some parents prefer to keep it that way. The most common arrangement I’ve seen with clients and readers is, “I’ll pay for undergraduate student loans, but you pay for everything after that!”
Of course, some parents take the other side and view this loan as their kid’s loan that they’ll take on once they’re able. There’s no right or wrong answer but choosing between these approaches carries big implications for your lifestyle.
Don't let high student loan payments reduce your retirement savings
If you plan to refinance Parent Plus student loans into your name alone, you need to plan on working for another 10 years. Your 50s and 60s are prime years for deferring money for retirement. You’ll likely be in a lower income tax bracket once you quit working.
Furthermore, you can make $7,500 catch-up contributions to 401k and 403b accounts (as of 2023). This is in addition to your annual contribution limit of $22,500. This means your max retirement contribution to an employer account is increased to $30,000. If you’re married, multiply that number by two for the total contribution you could make together.
Parent PLUS loan repayment can make those contributions more difficult. I would suggest that if you do refinance Parent Plus that you get rid of it in a hurry. You want to shoot for a plan with a repayment period of fewer than five years, so you can go into retirement unburdened.
For example, a parent with $40,000 of Parent Plus loans could refinance that amount to a 4.66% fixed interest rate and pay $749 a month to have it all done within five years. That kind of payment is very doable if your child’s loan is a low to mid-five figure balance.
You’d also save thousands of dollars in interest over the life of the loan by refinancing to a lower interest rate. Additionally, you can speed up your repayment plan and save even more by making extra payments.
For a loan balance below $50,000, refinancing is usually the way to go. However, when you have more than that, the math gets much more challenging.
You should not refinance Parent Plus student loans if you’re planning to use Social Security for most of your retirement income. As we’ll see later, the math just doesn’t make sense.
3. Refinancing Parent Plus Loans into your child’s name only
Lenders like Laurel Road will allow you to refinance your Parent Plus loans into your child’s name alone.
This is a very popular option with families who had to take out loans for multiple kids for school. To transfer a Parent PLUS loan to a student or recent grad, you can refinance the debt into the child’s name. It's far superior to just having your kid write a check to you for the monthly payment.
After all, you’re paying the government at a 7.54% interest rate on a Parent Plus loan, which doesn’t make sense when you can slash the interest rate cost by refinancing.
The process is more cumbersome when you’re refinancing Parent Plus loans into your child’s name, but it’s very doable and I’ve helped readers accomplish this through my cash back bonus links.
If you’re going to transfer the student loan debt to your child’s name, you want to make sure that your kid is very financially stable. There’s nothing worse than having your entrepreneurial ambitions restrained by a huge required monthly payment.
You cannot consolidate the loan to your kid’s name and keep it with the U.S. Department of Education federal student loans system, unfortunately. The only way to get a Parent Plus loan payment based on income is to use the final strategies for paying back Parent Plus.
Related: 7 Expert Tips for Managing Parent PLUS Loan Payments If You’re Struggling
4. Going for Parent Plus Loan forgiveness as a retiree
I have seen incredibly little written about this strategy online. Using Parent Plus loan forgiveness as a retiree could allow your family to keep vastly more wealth and allow you to retire sooner.
If I’ve got your attention from that, then good because this stuff can get confusing.
The only way to get payments based on income with Parent Plus is through federal direct loan consolidation. When consolidating, you only want to include Parent Plus loans. That’s because the new Direct Consolidation Loan will only be eligible for the ICR plan, and you don’t want to mess up loans you took out for your own education that weren’t for your children.
Once you call your loan servicer and secure the consolidation, now your payments are 20% of your income (specifically Adjusted Gross Income or AGI) after deducting 100% of the poverty line for your family size.
This strategy works well for retirees depending on Social Security
This is an absolute game-changing strategy for someone with more than $100,000 of Parent Plus loan debt who relies on Social Security for most of their retirement income. In fact, according to AARP's Fact Sheet, about half of people aged 65 and older rely on Social Security for at least half of their family income. And about 25% rely on it for over 90% of their income.
We don’t have great data on this, but I’d guess that the population of Parent Plus borrowers is not as rich as elderly Americans on average. Otherwise, why borrow for your kid’s school, right?
Hence, my guess is there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Parent Plus loan borrowers who will have a modest income in retirement.
5. Double consolidation: The most powerful Parent PLUS loophole
Parents living mostly off Social Security income in retirement would likely have an extremely low AGI. That's why paying 20% of your AGI minus 100% of the federal poverty line with the income-contingent repayment plan can make sense.
However, what if there was a way to pay 10% of your income instead of 20%? Middle and upper-middle-income parents who were formerly not good candidates for forgiveness could suddenly have a huge amount of debt forgiven.
We've written an entire article on the Parent PLUS double consolidation loophole.
Editor's note: Attention parents! New regulations will eliminate this loophole on July 1, 2025. If you're a parent with a higher income, you should anticipate repaying the bulk of new student loans taken out on behalf of your children.
It's not for the faint of heart, but if you're willing to put in the time following our guide on how to use it, you could cut your payments by more than half. You could also book a consult with us, and we'll walk you through the process.
That's because other income-driven repayment plans not only take a lower percent of your income, but they also give you a larger deduction before you have to pay anything (150% of the poverty line instead of 100%).
How could Parent Plus Loan forgiveness work in practice
We'll cover the ICR and Parent PLUS strategy because it's the simplest to illustrate.
Imagine Tim took out $150,000 of Parent Plus loans with a 6% interest rate for his three daughters to complete college. Tim is 64 years old and plans to retire from his job as a car mechanic at 66. He’ll claim his monthly Social Security of $1,800 a month, and Tim’s wife Margaret will claim her $1,500 a month of Social Security at that time, too.
Their income will be $60,000 combined for the next two years, and then it will drop to $39,600. Let’s assume Tim has a small pension that he makes that will bring their combined retirement income up to $45,000.
Tim could consolidate and attempt to use an economic hardship forbearance for the next two years that he’s working to avoid payments.
Then he could consolidate when he retires. He’s living on Social Security alone, and since his taxable income is above $44,000, up to 85% of his Social Security is taxable.
That makes his AGI 0.85 x 39,600 + 5,400 = $39,060.
Thus, his ICR payment would be 20% of $39,060 minus 100% of the federal poverty line for a family size of two ($19,720), which works out to about $346 a month.
Tim could pay this amount for 25 years, and then his forgiven balance would be considered taxable income. At that point, Tim would be 91 years old. Who do you think would win in a collection of a six-figure balance, Tim or the IRS?
Here’s a summary of what the above scenario would look like.
My guess is that the IRS would apply the insolvency rule and wipe away the debt. I doubt he would have to pay that $95,000 tax bomb. Tim could also agree to some installment payment that’s a percent of his income, or he could have already passed away and not have to worry about it anymore.
How to drastically reduce your payments with double consolidation
As mentioned, there are other income-driven repayment plans that factor in a lower percentage of your income. For example, the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) plan uses 10% of your discretionary income. But to access these additional student loan repayment plans, you'll need to take advantage of the Parent PLUS double consolidation loophole.
So, what would your payment look like if you used the double consolidation strategy with PAYE?
Using Tim and Margaret's previous example, his PAYE payment would be 10% of $39,060 minus 150% of the federal poverty line for a family of two ($19,720), which would drop his payment down to just $97 per month.
Tim could then make 20 years of payments and have his remaining balance forgiven. Here's the kicker. His total payments would come out to about $28,000, which is a huge savings compared to the $135,000 he'd pay under the ICR plan in the previous example.
Note that the PAYE plan will no longer be available through double consolidations in July 2024.
If you have no retirement income except Social Security, your student loan payment is probably $0
Keep in mind that the reason Tim and Margaret had a payment at all is that their total income was in the mid-five figures.
If we were just talking about a single parent living on one Social Security paycheck alone, then it’s very likely the payment would have been $0.
There are plenty of retirees living well on only Social Security checks in South Florida. The nice part about this strategy is that if you have very little saved for retirement, even though you owe a bunch for your child’s education, you can still actually retire.
That’s a game changer for many families out there.
FAQ for Parent PLUS Loans
Here are some of the more common questions we get from parents who owe a ton of debt for their child or children's education.
Yes, students can take on their parents' PLUS loans by refinancing through a couple of private student loan lenders mentioned earlier in the article. And as an added bonus, refinancing can help score a lower interest rate and save thousands in total interest costs.
Federal Parent PLUS loans are not eligible for Income Based Repayment, Pay As You Earn, or Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE). The only income-driven repayment plan Parent PLUS is eligible for is Income Contingent Repayment (ICR). Even then, you must first consolidate your Parent PLUS loan through studentloans.gov to be eligible.
Yes, you can refinance through a private lender if you wish to pay off your loans faster and you’re not planning to use Social Security for most of your retirement income. Our refinancing partners have best-in-class welcome bonuses paid in addition to lower interest rates.
The interest you pay towards a student loan, including a PLUS loan, may score you a break at tax time. Currently, the most you can deduct is either $2,500 or the total amount of student loan interest you paid, whichever is less. This is an above-the-line deduction, meaning you do not have to itemize to claim it.
The student loan interest deduction is subject to a phaseout based on income.
If you don't pay your Parent PLUS loan, it will go into default. The government can garnish your wages or Social Security to get paid, so do not take this action as there are better repayment options available.
Strategically Pay Off Parent PLUS Loans or Plan on Expensive Mistakes
Parent Plus is the red-headed orphan stepchild of the Department of Education's student loan portfolio. There are about 3.7 million Parent PLUS loan borrowers, and many owe a loan balance of six figures. If that’s you and you're looking to learn everything you need to know about Parent PLUS loans, you’re not alone.
The total interest cost is higher, so at first glance, it might seem like refinancing is always the answer if you want to make Parent PLUS loans affordable. However, if you look at the math, it’s a lot more complex. If you know you need student loan refinancing, check out some of the cash back bonus links on our site.
If you want a custom plan, that’s what we specialize in. Feel free to reach out to us with the button below.
If you're currently trying to pay off Parent PLUS loans, we'd love to hear what you're going through. Just post a comment below, and we'll respond.
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Not sure what to do with your student loans?
Take our 11 question quiz to get a personalized recommendation for 2024 on whether you should pursue PSLF, Biden’s New IDR plan, or refinancing (including the one lender we think could give you the best rate).
No, our young adult children should not be saddled with the school loan debt we knowingly incurred on their behalf ! In our case, all our children excelled in their studies, graduating with excellent GPA’s and many educational accolades. Our oldest daughter achieved Summa Cum Laude from Villanova. At the time she went off to college in 2003, the oldest of 5 sisters, we were all a bit naive about the monstrous system into which we were getting ourselves. Yes, unequivocally, we believe that the financing practices that are involved with securing loans for higher education are fraught with confusion, anxiety at every level and unethical policies that take advantage of parents desire to help their children. This, I believe, was a purposeful, calculated fleecing of the middle class American family by our very own representatives in Congress!! This was government/private sector collusion of the worst kind between Congress, and the administrators of colleges and universities all over the country, and the lending institutions, all of whom are benefitting wildly on the backs of middle America and our young people. This system is a disgrace!
The goal is that they wouldn’t be saddled with that debt though Maureen. You can fight back against the system with the right strategy. You just have to make sure you don’t give any more money to the govt than absolutely necessary.
Maureen, that is exactly what is going on. I agree 100 percent
I need help very badly. I’m 76, retired on SSI
And it has been a tremendous struggle. I’v been struggling with this since I became disable and then SSI retirement . I don’t want my credit to be hurt, but what can I really do. HELP
Consolidate the parent plus into a direct consolidation loan, then get it on ICR. You could also apply for a disability discharge.
Hello Travis,
My 2nd daughter just graduated from college and I will start paying her portion in 6 months. My monthly payment will be higher than what I can afford even with consolidation option. I still have 1 child left to go to college in 4 years and I am worried about not being able to retire. I am 46 and married. What is the best way to get parent plus loan of 130k pay off or reduce my monthly payment so that I can afford it and send my youngest to college and still can retire at 65 or less.
Frankly asking for forbearance as long as possible on the youngest kids loan and maxing out the parent plus for the other, then consolidating at that point to a new loan with new 3 years of forbearance. Then getting on ICR and maxing retirement and maybe having some tough choices about what to cut.
I’ll have to start making payments on my Parent Plus loan in January 2020. The total with interest is close to $30,000. (Unfortunately, the balance of my daughter’s education was federal loans and private loans she had to have co-signed by her brother, but that’s another issue!)
I’m wondering if I should take the money from my 401K and pay the loan off completely so I don’t have to face paying it for 10 years into my retirement. I’m 63, my company is closing this year and I will have to do something with the 401K at that time any way. The 401K only has about $31,000 in it at this time due to other loans/withdrawals taken previously, so it seems right to me to use it to pay the PP loans, but don’t know if there’s some reason I shouldn’t.
Hi Ruth,
We don’t normally recommend that people take a 401(k) distribution to pay off debt. This is because of the taxes that will be owed and giving up the tax-free/deferred growth. A better option would be to figure out how much you can work with your budget to put toward these loans and pay them off as fast as you can.
I have a $140,000 Parent Plus Loan that has been consolidated and put into the ICR but my monthly payments are way more than I can afford without getting another job. I knew this would eventually catch up to me but I would do it again for my daughter to be able to go to a good college and I would never put this on her. I would do over if I had to. However, now I am trying to figure out the best way to repay at an amount that I can afford.
You might need to file separately if you’re married. That could significantly lower the payment. Also saving for retirement could drastically reduce your payment amount so you might put the loan in forbearance while you attempt to do that.
Hello. We have three adult children one with a Phd and two with an MBA. All of their student loans (most parent plus loans) are in mine and my husband’s name. We borrowed because all of them were studious and decided it was a good investment for their lives and we would all pitch in to help pay all the loans when they came due. I feel like we’ve sold our souls to the devil. Our two youngest have been paying half of their loans (60,000 for them and 60,000 for us!) but our eldest son (Phd) has states that he cannot afford to help us at all. We borrowed around 180,000 (50,000 in interest!). We have about 10 years until retirement. In the process of trying to refinance at a lower interest rate-but not sure how we can afford a month bill of around $2000. Not sure why I’m explaining all of this-just totally confused on which way to figure all of this out. Our eldest through us for a loop when he said “it was our loan”. And “he cannot afford to help”. Leaving us holding the entire loan. Old saying “that person you sacrificed for will turn around and say they really didn’t ask you to”. Sad. Any advice will be appreciated.
Total 350,000 in student loans*
Ouch Emilia. We can obviously help with our consult service (https://www.studentloanplanner.com/hire-student-loan-help/) but here’s some suggestions.
Look into the “secret double consolidation” of Parent PLUS loans. It’s very difficult to do but could help you with payments. The other avenue is consolidating the regular way and signing up for ICR and filing taxes separately. That will at least control the payment where it wont be 3500 a month.
We helped my daughter with a plus loan for 30k. She couldn’t handle school and dropped out. We sought care for her and discovered she did not have adhd we had been told all her life, she has autism. School is not the place for her. So now I’m sales with 30k of plus debt on a drafters salary. After 5 layoffs during the recession, interest has grown that to 52k. What do I do? The payments on this are more than my mortgage. It’s literally bankrupting me.
You might try doing ICR and consolidating the loan. The payments might be lower than what you have now if you make a low income.
I owe about 118,000 in parent plus loans payments start January 2020,
I am getting 40,000 from the sale of my deceased parents house and have
30,000 saved. I owe 65,000 on my house. I’m 60 yrs old wanting to retire at 65.
do I payoff 60,000 of my parent plus loans then get a direct consolidation loan
or get a consolidation loan first?
Probably get the consolidation loan first and pay based on your income. You’ll have nothing left if you pay off all the parent plus loans. I’d max your retirement instead.
Originally took a parent plus loan for appx $34,000 in 2007. Circumstances beyond my control forced me to utilize forbearance a couple times over the years. Balance now is $60,000 with ridiculous interest and late fees. Been making monthly payments of $300 for past year even tho my monthly payments were supposed to be $387. Now they say I am 180 days late. I’m 67 , have no assets and have worked last 14 years for a non-profit transportation company I want to retire next year but can’t afford these payments! Thought by paying every month what I could afford would be good but I don’t want to default! Help??
Sounds like you should have a tough conversation about refinancing the loan into the child’s name with them https://www.studentloanplanner.com/top-lenders-refinance-parent-plus-loans/
I am 65 and divorced. The parent plus loan for my youngest daughter is $97.000 and in my name. I looked at consolidation through Navient and the interest rate is 7.9%. Who do I go to to get a lower rate and is it in my best interest to do this?
If you’re approaching retirement you might try to consolidate and do ICR or refinance the loan into your child’s name. Here’s our refinancing links: https://www.studentloanplanner.com/refinance-student-loans/
Hello,
I am 76 years old and my only income is SS. I owe around 36,000
left on two parent plus loans. I am having a hard time making payments, what are my options? I’m up to date on everything
and started the paper work on consolidation, was going to do the
IBR plan, but just found out I can’t.
About to the end of rope, John
You can do ICR by consolidating your loans at studentloans.gov. That’s the best option to lower your payment if it can be lowered.
Hi Travis,
I have approximately $25-30k in parent plus loan debt for my son. Additionally, I have about $150k in loan debt for my own undergrad and graduate degree. I will be graduating in May with my graduate degree. I currently work in public service, and am hoping to use the loan forgiveness and income based payment plans. Is that possible?
Yes but you need to be extremely careful not to consolidate the parent plus loans w the rest otherwise you could get stuck on ICR.
Hi Travis,
I took out Parent Plus loans for about $17k for my daughter and $40k for my son. I consolidated the two and took as much forbearance as I could. Now, I’m at the end of forbearance and owe a whopping $102k. I had hoped the payments would be low because I’m starting SS, but I still have to work as well because of other debt (being a single mom for all those years was always a struggle!) However, the more I make, the higher the payment so I can’t make the payment and pay for my car and other bills. I do not want to turn this over to the kids as they are paying off their own loans, but I am so tired of working hard and still living paycheck to paycheck. Is there anything I can do get a monthly payment I can afford? (I’m only getting $1440/month in SS and I just quit my manager’s job because I’m 65 and just can’t work that hard..so I’ll be making $11/hour for close to 40 hrs/week) I guess I can get a second job (again) but then the income goes up and so the payment goes up.
They can garnish your social security I believe at a rate of 15%. This is one of those cases where Id speak with a student loan attorney to see if you could strategically default or not. Try jay@moneywiselaw.com
If it was me though, I’d sign up for ICR if you’ve already consolidated. That’s 20% of your AGI after they deduct the federal poverty line of about $12,000. And social security at your income level probably wont be counted in AGI. If you can afford to live off Social Security alone, I think you could get a payment of $0 a month with ICR and it would be on track for forgiveness in 25 years. Then you can use the insolvency rule to claim your assets are less than your debts and you’d get it discharged tax free.
So I don’t think you’re in as bad shape as you think Helen. You just need to figure out how to live on 18k a year and if you can it’s as if you had no debt.
Hi Travis,
Does the government ever agree to reduce or waive the interest on the loans when paying them off? I’ve been deferring the loans since my daughter graduated undergrad in 2017. Then she did two years for masters degree and now she started medical school. I am refinancing my mortgage and I am going to pay off the loan. It has accrued over $20K in interest in this short time, I would love for them to work with me on the interest it accrued since I will be paying off the entire loan and they will no longer be waiting for their money and then getting it spread out over 30 years. Just wondering…
Thank you
Nancy
No they never compromise on that once it’s already accrued
Hello,
My husband has recently started working a job which is eligible for PSLF. We are attempting to consolidate all of our PLUS loans (all in his name) through the Fed site and get on ICR and PSLF.
We consolidated a couple of the PLUS loans through Sofi Mohela back in 2017. Our loan servicer through the Fed site, Great Lakes, is telling us that the Sofi Consolidation Loan will not be eligible to be consolidated with our other PLUS loans as it is considered a private loan.
Question: Will all of the loan servicers from the Fed site tell us the same thing?
Question: If we cannot include this private consolidated loan (about 84,000 at a 5.375 int rate), is there anything else we should be considering to do with this loan to minimize our payments (other than re-assigning it to our kids)?
Thank you for any information you can offer us.
You should refinance the Sofi loan and see if you can get a lower rate. https://www.studentloanplanner.com/refi will show you some lenders to check out.
The Sofi loan is definitely private. I’d suggest following the refinancing ladder strategy: https://www.studentloanplanner.com/student-loan-refinancing-ladder/
Hello-
I took out parent plus loans for my four children and am have consolidated and had my payments lowered. The problem is that the $175,000 has now turned to $310,000 (Rule of 72). I am 60, so do I continue to let it compound with the knowledge that when I pass it passes with me?? It’s criminal that the government took over student loans and are charging parents 8%, when interest rates for mortgages are at an all time low (2.85% today)!
I would love to hear any solutions. Thank you!
Your student loan interest grows at a simple rate of interest not compound. At this point you might try ICR and letting your student loans just be a tax.
Between my 2 kids, I borrowed over $178,000. I was unable to make payments. They are now in default with a collection agency and up to $210,00 with interest. They’ve offered me a settlement of $165,000. I will be getting inheritance that I was going to put towards retirement but thinking if they’re willing to settle and basically wiping away the interest, I should jump on it, pay it off and make arrangements with my kids to help pay me back. I’m years old. Thoughts?
You should probably not do that Lisa. If you have a large inheritance coming, then I’d suggest doing a consult with us to make sure you’re paying this back the smartest way possible. https://www.studentloanplanner.com/hire-student-loan-help/
We’d suggest ICR or double consolidation instead.
I found your article while looking for ways to help my sister and the debt she has accumulated for her daughter. I don’t know why parents are so eager to go into debt for their children. Not everyone has to go to the school of their dreams. Too many parents these days can’t say no to their children. You have your young adult son or daughter go to a school that you can afford, and that includes attending junior college or trade schools. The college degree is not what it used to be in guaranteeing employment. Plus, there is a great need in the trades and people make great money doing many of these jobs. My husband and I put 3 daughters through college with a middle income salary and they all have great jobs and zero debt. We have zero debt as well. The oldest went to community college and got an associates degree. The next 2 went to excellent schools with high tuition and they earned academic scholarships to get there. We paid our portion as we went and they accumulated small debts which they have paid off already in their mid twenties. And if they did not get their academic scholarships they would not have went to their dream school. We had other plans within our budget so we all would not be in debt.
Please confirm if you advise the Double Consolidation Loophole for those who would otherwise qualify for PSLF with the exception of existing Parent PLUS loans .
If so, have your clients been successful with the double consolidation process and getting on another IDR plan besides ICR?
Yes we’ve seen success with it. But only consolidate loans that have no credit yet.
We have 350k parent plus loans Through fed loan for our 3 sons. This loan have ballooned into this monster after years of deferment and accrued interest. My husband works for the VA and we were hoping to avail of the student loan forgiveness program for federal workers, however, we aren’t sure if this will work for us.
My husband is 60 and plans to take out 100K from his 401K retirement fund ( we both have some money saved) as partial payment and take advantage of the current situation in reporting it incrementally as income over 3 years. Not sure if this is a sane idea.
Before your husband sacrifices his 401k, I suggest booking a consult with one of our student loan planners. With $350k in student loan debt, there’s a lot you can do to get that under control. Especially with you being closer to retirement age, you want to make sure to maximize your finances so you can enjoy your golden years (you worked hard to get there!). Forgiveness is absolutely an option.