<p>Hi,
So my Non custodial parent has a 10,000 student loan repayment allotment from the federal government. According to FinAid</a> | Loans | Parent Loans, a noncustodial parent can take out a loan for their child in their name, and according to OPM.gov, at Student</a> Loan Repayment , "if the employee has a PLUS loan for his or her child, the loan would qualify for repayment". Am I reading this right, can someone verify this for me if my father is allowed to take out a PLUS loan which the federal government would pay for him?</p>
<p>Looks like it. I have never heard of that program, but I looked at the link, and it seems that your father’s PLUS would be repaid (assuming he meets all the criteria).</p>
<p>Beware of this caveat, though: While a PLUS loan an employee has previously taken out to help pay for his or her child’s education is a qualifying student loan under 5 U.S.C. 5379(a)(1)(B) and 5 CFR 537.102, an agency may specify in its agency loan repayment plan that it will not offer to repay PLUS loans under its student loan repayment program.</p>
<p>Your dad should talk to his personnel/benefits representative.</p>
<p>Can I fore-go stafford loans and the like in exchange for the full 10,000 amount, sort of turning it into a grant because it is getting repaid, or does the statement “The maximum PLUS loan amount you can borrow is the cost of attendance (determined by the school) minus any other financial assistance received.” mean that I have to take stafford loans before I am allowed to take PLUS?</p>
<p>Yes, you could take the PLUS instead of Stafford (you would need to talk to your school’s aid office to have your aid repackaged). But I don’t know enough about the program offered by your dad’s employer to know if they would repay that much. You have time to do your research. Your dad needs to talk to his personnel/benefits office to find out exactly what the deal is. You would not want to turn down lower-interest loans only to find out that they won’t repay parent PLUS loans or that they have a maximum they will repay. It would be a costly mistake.</p>
<p>Alright, Thank you so much for the information!</p>