<p>Is it somewhat easy to qualify for a Parent Plus loan annually? We qualifiied last year for $10,000 and will need to get another loan this year. </p>
<p>My daughter is a Freshman at Ohio State. She loves the school and wishes to continue her education there. Our EFC for this year was over $21,000 and our income situation is the same so I am assuming that is what it is going to be for her sophomore year. Our first payment on the Parent Plus Loan is due May 1, 2012. Our plan is to pay it off by Christmas 2012. We figure that we will borrow $10,000 loan yearly and pay one off before the next one comes due. We were not prepared honestly for college. We had nothing saved so that is why we are trying to play catch up now. I thought she would get more scholarships than she did and have found out that she is pretty "average" as far as how scholarships are awarded. She did receive some through high school this year but they were all one time payments nothing paid annually. We are grateful for the ones she received to help this year but don't think she is going to be getting any for her sophomore year.</p>
<p>We are trying to keep our student loan debt to a minimum as well as our daughter's debt. My goal is for her to graduate with under $20,000 worth of student loan debt that she is responsible for. If she goes to graduate school that number is going to be higher but she knows that we are not helping her with that, she is 100% on her own. My son graduates high school in 2014 and I know that financially I can't help her as much because I will be helping him. And he will get the same deal, we will help through 4 years of school any additional is on him.</p>
<p>But that means 8 years worth of Parent Plus loans and I don't know if we will continue to be approved? What do you all think?</p>
<p>my understanding is that parent PLUS loans are relatively easy to qualify for as long as you have no recent bad dings on your credit rating (bankruptcy, defaults etc). So assuming that is and continues to be the case, you should be OK </p>
<p>Good idea to keep paying the balances down as you go - helps the credit rating.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply.</p>
<p>Our credit is excellent (one thing we know how to do is borrow money and pay it back). And the only new debt we plan on adding is the college loans. Our vehicles are within 2 years of being paid off and have no plans replace them until they totally die on us. (knock on wood they last a few more years)</p>
<p>I was hoping to borrow for one year and then save up for the next year but that did not happen this year and don’t foresee that it is going to happen the following years so I am trying to get a course of action. And unfortunately, right now, that involves more loans.</p>
<p>If you are paying them off as you get new ones, I don’t see it being a problem. My mom was able to co-sign much more than that for me AND take on a few of her own loans, and it still affects her credit as if she took the loan out herself. But she continued to qualify.</p>
<p>Does your daughter work at all? Even a part-time job 10-15 hours a week might help out with other expenses, like going toward her meal plan, books, etc. </p>
<p>Some (though not many) masters programs can be partially or fully-funded depending on the field and her stats. PhD’s at any credible school are fully-funded, so depending on what she pursues (if she pursues grad school), she might not accumulate a whole lot more debt. Or she could take a year off and work before going back, which is what I am doing. I desperately needed a new car as my old one pretty much died a week after getting my new one. So the time off has helped me get ahead on that and some loan payments.</p>
<p>If you keep paying them off as you go, I don’t see why you won’t continue to get approved.</p>
<p>You might want to “do the math” and see if it’s better for your kids to take out the max student loans…even if it means that you’ll help pay for those. </p>
<p>*I thought she would get more scholarships than she did and have found out that she is pretty “average” as far as how scholarships are awarded. *</p>
<p>Yes, that can be disappointing. Schools that give merit only usually give them to those with test scores that are well within the top 25%. </p>
<p>*
She did receive some through high school this year but they were all one time payments nothing paid annually. We are grateful for the ones she received to help this year but don’t think she is going to be getting any for her sophomore year.*</p>
<p>And, you’re right about those one time private scholarships. If your D is doing well at OSU, then have her see if her dept major offers any scholarships.</p>
<p>Since you have a younger child that you’re concerned about, why not look to see if any schools would offer merit scholarships for that child.</p>