<p>Hi - I'm somewhat confused about the FA offers from the colleges that have accepted my D. </p>
<p>She has 4 acceptances. One came with FA that included scholarships, subsidized student loans, need based grant, ws and an amount stated as Parent PLUS loan. If she accepts, she simply signs the form and we fill out one other very short app for the Parent Plus. Our oldest daughter goes to this same college and received nearly an identical package last year, so we are familiar with what happens there - it's very streamlined.</p>
<p>Another school was similar with scholarships, student loans, need based grant, ws, but no line called Parent Plus loan. However, they did include a couple brochures about Parent Plus loans, and a letter indicating that they did have a lender who they work with for those loans but we are free to choose whatever we wanted. The other 2 schools were the same with scholarships, grants, student loans, ws, but no mention of Parent Plus loans at all. No brochures stating anything about it. </p>
<p>Last year my daughter got a FA package from one school that had one large amount under Parent PLus Loan and that was it - needless to say she did not attend that college.</p>
<p>I'm just curious as to what is the significance of either stating or not stating the Parent plus loan in the FA offer? If the schools don't indicate it on their FA offer does it mean they won't accept it, or that we can't obtain one? Sorry if that's a dumb question - I'm just not sure why it is seemingly being offered at one school, sort of offered at another, and not offered at all at 2 of them. Thanks for any info.</p>
<p>In my opinion it is sort of deceptinve when colleges list the Plus loan in the financial aid package. After all, parents can take out a Plus loan anytime - at any school. Borrowing to pay tuition is hardly financial aid IMO.</p>
<p>Yeah-- disregard the PLUS loans when comparing the packages. You can (if eligible) get a PLUS loan to cover the unmet need regardless of your college choice.</p>
<p>I agree. Disregard the PLUS loan--whether you decide to take one or not--when comparing financial aid offers. When comparing, I am looking first at total cost minus grant/scholarship as the most important point of comparison--because everything else in money the student (or parent) has to borrow or earn. Then I consider the type of loan--since subsidized loans are better and interest rates are better on federal loans. I consider work study because it makes it easier for a student to work (and I believe they don't have to be taxed on the earnings?) than finding their own job. But the most important bottom line to me is the first....the cost after grant/scholarship.</p>
<p>Actually, Parent PLUS loans are financial aid because they have strict restrictions on interest and repayment terms...which differ from other types of loans. Parent PLUS Loans have capped interest rates (currently 8.50% for FFELP and 7.90% for Direct...can be placed into deferment. Repayments can be "income sensitive", which reduces the monthly payment amount drastically. Parent PLUS Loans can be consolidated (which will actually lower the interest rate, currently capped at 8.25% for consolidated PLUS Loans...at least using the current interest rate figures.) Parent PLUS Loans, while credit based, are not as difficult to obtain as other types of loans. Also, some students do not qualify for PLUS Loans...they cannot be taken out at any school, at any time, or by any one. I have had several students who were "dependent students" who did not qualify for a single dollar in PLUS loans because the rest of their aid package covered the entire cost of attendance. IF the Parents had taken out any type of loan, other than a non-educationally based loan, the financial aid package would have had to be reduced...by taking away grants and Sub Loans.</p>
<p>Also...PLUS Loans should be examined when comparing FA Packages...the higher the necessary PLUS Loan to cover actual cost....the worse the package is. In fact, one cold almost just look at the PLUS loan for an easy determination because the amount of the awarded PLUS Loan is calculated after all other aid has been awarded. IOW...schools take the cost of attendance and subtract out all other types of aid (schoalrships, grants, Sub Loan, Perkins Loan, Unsub Loan) to come up with the amount of the PLUS Loan.</p>
<p>In my opinion, any benefit from the PLUS loan is a gift from the government, not an individual college. Therefore I do not consider it to be financial aid from a college any more than I consider a Hope Credit to be. If you qualify for a PLUS loan, you don't need the school to "award" it to you.</p>
<p>at my daughters school
she did have small subsidized loans as part of her package- and I believe there may have been some brochures about where to find info on PLUS loans ( although now that I think about it- that wasn't from the college)
But most importantly to us- PLUS was viewed as a way to help us pay the EFC not part of her finaid package.</p>
<p>Thank you - all the replies have been helpful. In our case, the amount of FA in terms of scholarships, grants, ws, and student loans (perkins and stafford) are pretty consistent amongst all the schools. </p>
<p>For several reasons, we prefer not to get a home equity loan and relied on the parent plus loan for our oldest and would like to take advantage of it again for the next kid (and the next one in another year!).</p>
<p>I guess I just had this paranoid idea that because a school didn't mention the parent plus loan or didn't include it in their offer, that somehow this meant we couldn't obtain it. I think I can infer from the comments that this is not necessarily the case.</p>
<p>I'm with the posters above who view that listing of the PLUS loan as part of the financial aid package as being a deceptive practice -- so to me it is a negative when that is listed, because it leads families to mistakenly believe their need is being "met". So, to me, that's just one more reason to reject the college that has presented their financial aid in that way. </p>
<p>I agree that if you merely cross out the words "PLUS loan" and pencil in, "EFC" -- you've got the math on your bottom line done for you.</p>
<p>If the Parent PLUS Loan isn't lited on your child's Award Letter, it may be because your child doesn't qualify for it. Check with the school's FA Office to be sure. Not all dependent children quallilfy to receive the Parent PLUS Loan.</p>
<p>If a parent is paying the majority of a child's education costs (minus a financial aid package covering 1/4 to 1/3 of costs) , they can use a PLUS loan to pay for part (or even all if they wanted--not that I'd want to do that) of these costs--isn't that true? If not, when would it not be true?</p>
<p>The Parent PLUS Loan can be used to cover the gap...so long as there is a gap between the typical FA awards (scholarships, grants, student loans, work-study) and the actual cost of attendance. Sometimes, there isn't any gap between the student's award and the actual cost of attendance...and it is those instances where a Parent PLUS Loan would not be available (at least not without cancelling out something else in the aid package.) The total of an aid package....between scholarships, grants, student Stafford Loans, Perkins loans, Federal Work-Study, Private Educational Loans and PLUS loans can never be more than the cost of attendance as calculated by the institution.</p>
<p>Ok - thanks for the clarification. In our case, the awards do not cover and there is a (big) gap. </p>
<p>calmom - you bring up an interesting point. The particular school did list the parent plus loan as part of the FA package and included a line that indicated they had met 100% of need.</p>
<p>Another thing that is puzzling to me is that all 4 schools offered her awards that required us to come up with what <em>was</em> LAST year's EFC - almost to the dollar. This year, our EFC is half the amount. I don't know if it's a coinicidence or what? But needless to say, we'll be contacting all the FA offices to figure that out. What is unfortunate is that since all 4 offered the same amounts, we can't really use any one as leverage. Well - we do have one more school that hasn't sent a decision yet.</p>
<p>Seahills, do you have another kid in college? Is your EFC half of last year's because there are two kids? </p>
<p>If so, it is possible that the colleges have calculated the award as if there is only one in college, and that they will increase the grant in the fall once they get proof of the sibling's enrollment. That is what my daughter's college did -- I had to mail a form from my daughter's college to my son, and he had to take it to his financial aid office and have them transmit it back to my daughter's college. The form verified that he was a full time student and also provided information as to total cost of enrollment at his college.</p>
<p>yes Calmom - we do have a kid in college now - she is a freshman and I assumed our EFC was cut in half this year because we will have a second entering this Fall. Thanks for sharing your experience!</p>