I want to be clear I am understanding this fully.
A dependent undergraduate can only get $5500 in federal loans without a co-signer her freshman year.
I understand that ParentPLUS loans exist, and my understanding is that they can only be obtained by the parent, not a dual student-parent situation where the parent is just the co-signer. Is this correct?
Besides these two options, would the only other option be a private loan that would begin repayment immediately?
I’m hearing from a co-op student who worked with my husband that HE took out the loans for his private school education, not his parents, up to the full cost of attendance. But, I’m not seeing how he could have done this unless his loan amount was within the undergrad threshold.
Thanks!
You are generally right. There are other federal student loans that do exist such as the Perkins loan (a subsidized low-interest federal loan) and I believe that education students have some other options as well. In addition, private loans don’t have to enter repayment automatically; they often carry grace periods and the borrower can elect to defer them.
There’s no way to know what your husband’s co-worker really did though; people often (inadvertently) present misleading or unclear information when talking about things like this. He could have borrowed private loans with a cosigner. Some universities also originate loans themselves.
Is the co-op student a grad student? If so, he is right…he can take the Grad Plus in his name.
Parent Plus…nope. That is a parent loan.
Private loans? What lending institution would give a large loan to someone without significant income and collaterol to secure in case they default? None that I know of. The kid would have needed a cosigner…unless he has significant income and assets…but if he has these assets, and income…why would he take out a significant private loan?