<p>S is currently a sophomore and we have now depleted his 529. There is a gap between his financial aid (incl Stafford & Perkins loans) and the COA of about $9500/yr. I know for many on CC, that is nothing, but for us it is. </p>
<p>Are Parent PLUS loans the best option? We have excellent credit scores (high 700/low 800). I know very little about them.</p>
<p>We opted for a private student loan, cosigned by DH and me. Private loans are very sensitive to credit score, so if you have excellent credit I’d definitely recommend checking them out. In our case, we found that the interest rate for a private was far lower (4.25%), there was no loan origination fee, there is a 2% graduation reward, and repayment doesn’t begin until graduation + 6 months. (That last factor was important because although DH and I will be repaying this particular loan, we want to pay off the car loan first. By taking a student loan rather than a parent loan, we can begin repayment in 6 months or a year, rather than immediately.)</p>
<p>There are so many proponents of PLUS here on CC and it seemed so clear to me that a private loan was better for us, that I asked our FA office “What am I missing?” The officer told me that I wasn’t missing anything, and that many parents with high credit scores choose a private loan. So that’s what we did. We went with Discover BTW.</p>
<p>Thanks, LasMa! We’ll check into that.</p>
<p>You may want to check into a home equity loan or line of credit as well. Interest rates are often better and they don’t have as many restrictions on tax deductibility.</p>