05 Aug If college loans are forgiven, will parent loans be eligible?

Q. I have a Parent PLUS loan that I’ve been paying since my daughter graduated from Seton Hall. If a law is passed to forgive student debt, will I qualify?
— Mom

A. There’s a lot that’s unknown about what, if any, student loan forgiveness programs may come to pass.

But that hasn’t stopped the issue from becoming a popular question for college families.

President Joe Biden made a campaign promise to forgive student loan debt of up to $10,000 per borrower, said Deva Panambur, a fee-only planner with Sarsi, LLC in West New York.

However, it is yet to be approved and there is no official statement with the exact details of the forgiveness program, he said.

Aside from potential loan forgiveness under President Biden’s plan, Parent PLUS loans are eligible for relief through an Income Contingent Plan, under which your monthly payments could be lowered, and the duration of loan extended, depending on your income, Panambur said.

Under this plan, your loan could be forgiven after 25 years of payments, he said.

Parent PLUS loans are also eligible for forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program if the borrower works for an eligible non-profit organization or for the Government, he said.

“Another way in which a Parent Plus loan could be discharged is through death of the borrower or the child or ‘total and permanent disability’ of the borrower,” Panambur said. “Parent PLUS loans could also be discharged if the school closes before the child graduates, but that is not applicable in your case.”

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This story was originally published on Aug. 6, 2022.

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