The Parent PLUS Loan Shell Game

KKmama
Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:17:08 +0000

I don’t know about the borrowing responsibly… my older kid’s only way to attend college was to borrow heavily. When she started out, math educators were high in demand. In the four years it took to graduate schools started laying off teachers and teachers are postponing retirement. She’s about $40K in debt, which wouldn’t be a huge crisis if only she could get a job. She subs almost every day.
Younger kid pays no tuition due to scholarships and two campus jobs. She DID borrow a bit irresponsibly in that she used Stafford loan money to go on school-sponsored mission trips during a couple of breaks. She will be in hock six figures by the time she graduates because she starts the grad level of the Physician Assistant program in May. Classes are 8-6 every day, which means it’s nearly impossible to hold a job to cover her room and board. The fourth year is still at undergrad tuition and scholarship since she’s staying in the same school, but the final year is about $100K.
Without the loans, many bright and able kids are condemned to low-end and unfullfilling (for them) jobs. Debt or despair? That’s a really hard choice to make. It’s not like they are using student loans for trips to Disney World…