Is there a way after college to get Parent Plus loan transferred to child (I know it can’t be directly done but via consolidation or something?)

[HGrace]

First kid in college and husband is close to retirement age and we only have one tiny income so we don’t feel comfortable taking on loans unless responsibility for them can somehow be given to our daughter after college graduation. 

Or is there another way to get loans that would avoid this problem? Thanks so much!!

[JanetC]

No, there is no way to take the parent PLUS off your name via a consolidation loan.

All student loans after the federal direct student loan are either in the parent's name or essentially in the co-signer's name until the student is earning income

You can research private student loans at http://privatestudentloans.guru

There will be a table on that website of private loans that can be transferred to the student after 12 to 24 months of timely payments. However, "word on the street" is even when this is theoretically possible, the loan companies are denying the requests more and more.

Parent PLUS loans have a 4 percent fee and a 7 percent interest rate. Many parents with good credit can do better, either by borrowing against the home instead or sometimes via a private loan through a credit union. 

[Ravin]

I don't know anything about Parent PLUS loans, but I know private student loans are a Very Bad Idea. They can't be rolled into Federal income based repayment and loan forgiveness programs.

You should look into how Parent PLUS loans work with both loan forgiveness programs and income-based repayment before taking them on. Income-based repayment limits how big your payments can be regardless of how large the loan is. All my student loan debt was in my own name because I was an independent adult (post-military service and married) when I started college. Much of it is graduate PLUS loans. I have more than $250K of debt from law school, much of it Graduate PLUS loans, but it's on income-based repayment that keeps my monthly payments less than $200/mo (it's capped at 10% of "discretionary income"; my first two years of repayment, working as an attorney the monthly payments were $0 because they were based on annual salary the year before, one of which I was a full time student, the second of which I was only employed as an attorney for a few months of). I will be able to apply for loan forgiveness on the whole pile once I've worked in public service for ten years.

If Parent PLUS loans can be rolled into income-based repayment and loan forgiveness based on the student's employment, they might be reasonable to take on.

[catz]

If this is the case for you, I would seriously be looking at options like community college and transfer to a reasonably priced program.  Possibly live at home.  Work hard to keep your daughter to the federal loan limits - those are a good rule of thumb for reasonable debt for an undergrad education.  You will either need to cosign or take out the loan for money above that amount.  If you aren't in a position to pay or take out more loans, I'd be very careful about saddling her with more debt than the basic federal student loan limits.  Things happen.  I wouldn't take on debt yourself unless you can comfortably pay it back.  

[JanetC]

Parent PLUS loans do not have income-based repayment, forgiveness for public service, and several of the other perks offered in the direct student loan program. There is deferment while the student is completing school and if the parent enrollsin school full time. Interest accuses during deferment. The forgiveness due to death or permanent disabilty is there, I believe. Check the link below.

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/sites/default/files/direct-loan-basics-parents.pdf

Like all student loans, they are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. If you go into default, the Federal government can withhold funds from any checks you are due such as a tax refund or social security to collect PLUS payments. 

 

[frogger]

Agree with the above posters about taking out the extra loans but do research if your state has it's own loan program. Last I checked the loans for education offered by our home state had better terms then the Federal loans. We can take out slightly more then Federal loans but not exorbitant amounts which we don't want anyway. It's one thing to be $1000 short or need money for that final year when you are close to your degree but to borrow for 4 years adds up fast and can leave you and your student drowning afterwards.