Loans - Parents Plus Loans
Level 4 - Highly Selective
Welcome! One of the most important thing that you can do is prepare financially for the cost of higher education.
Whether you will pursue just an associate’s degree or potentially achieve multiple degrees, understanding loans is critical. The reality is that loans are likely to be at least a part of almost any financial aid package that is offered.
In order to help families understand the different types of loans, we want to provide a series on each type of loan.
Before we begin, we want to preface this by saying that no one should pursue loans. At the end of the day, loans are not free money. Loans are money lent today that will need to be repaid with interest later. If you have the opportunity to earn scholarships, grants, or otherwise mitigate the cost of college, you should strongly consider taking it.
We repeat: do not get caught in the prestige of college where you are crushed by debt.
That being said, if you do find yourself needing to take a loan, you need to do so with as much information as possible.
With that being said, we will dive in. For the purpose of this series, we will cover the following loans:
Parent Plus Loans
Perkins Loans
Graduate Plus Loans
Direct Consolidation Loans
Private Student Loans
Private Parent Loans
Today we will focus on Parent Plus Loans.
Part 1: What are parent plus loans?
Parent PLUS loans are a subset of Direct PLUS loans. Direct PLUS loans are loans made by the federal government to either parents of undergraduate students or directly to students enrolled in graduate or professional school.
Loans made to parents under this program are called Parent PLUS loans.
The loans are not need-based, meaning they are not tied to family income. You can borrow up to the cost of attendance, with no limits.
