Beware of Parent Plus Loans

GoalsOriented
Fri, 12 Oct 2012 16:44:52 +0000

I graduated only a single semester late. I attended a non-profit public school that had some of THE cheapest tuition/fees in the entire state. I lived on-campus (also one of the cheaper dorms in the state), always got the least expensive meal plan, and even used a senior-class meal plan exemption during the last three semesters and saved further. I worked very hard throughout my college career and won a few scholarships. My Estimated Family Contribution was ZERO. I lived more modestly than most college students throughout my time at college.

For me to graduate, I had to borrow ~25k in stafford loans and my parents had to borrow ~9k in PLUS loans, totaling 34k in student loan debt.

The whole system is definitely corrupt and broken from top to bottom, including this tiny PLUS loan part of it. But low-income people attending (without aid) NYU and other expensive schools are definitely a small minority of the problem, not the main problem as some of you “every man, woman, and child for him/herself” people make it out to be. College is expensive EVERYWHERE - don’t try to blame the unprivileged.