I’m current on own loans. I thought about the option of her working for a while but that option may backfire , what if she gets comfortable and doesn’t want to go back? Also she will be lonely and judged. The people in my community are very judgemental. Everyone goes to college here. I don’t know any kid here who didn’t go to college. Most can afford it , others take out plus loans like its the norm and they expect it from me too. They will start asking my daughter why she dropped out and blah blah. Now I know I shouldn’t worry what others say but that’s how it is here. My loans are in good standing though and I’m sure I will qualify. My fear is the consequences of increased debt. I called the servicer and they said I can pay my loans as long as Im alive, there is no time limit.
If most people in your community can pay for college shame on them if they’re pressuring other parents to take PLUS loans to keep up. I wouldn’t take out loans to satisfy the neighbors. What the loan servicer is telling you is that you will be responsible for paying until you die. That’s not a benefit.
What happens if she gets comfortable and doesn’t go back is that she lives on what she earns until she’s willing to put the time and effort in to do more. If it were my kid I’d tell them I don’t plan to take loans. Their options would be the private school, commuting, or working to pay for the school they want.
You can do all kinds of things with your own loans, including interest based repayment or putting them in deferral while you are in school. Both options usually have interest accruing.
Don’t worry about others or what they are doing or thinking. You daughter needs to do her part too. If she has a free or less expensive option, I think she needs to reconsider going back to her old school. Can she do a semester abroad using her scholarship? Can she do a swap through her ‘old’ school to a school that is closer?
I think a leave year would be best to figure out the options. Taking on $20k extra per year (plus her direct loans) is not a good option.
Kids who never go back to college after a leave usually are kids who shouldn’t have gone to college in the first place. If she doesn’t go back ever, but has a happy life, good for her. If she goes back some day, good for her. The fancy term to use with the judgy neighbors is “gap year”. That implies that she has deliberately chosen some time off to discern her own best future.
And don’t forget that there probably are scads of students in your community who have dropped out or flunked out or whatever and you don’t know about them because their parents are too scared to admit that happened.
I would mostly be worried about her reasons for wanting to leave the good scholarship college. Is it truly only the distance, or was it a poor social or academic match, or did something bad or scary happen to her there that she’s not talking about?
Ahhhh. Kids from the wealthiest families , most supportive families, expensive neighborhood, highest ranked school take breaks from college. Happens all of the time.
The important thing here is not that she continues college but that she gets a reality grounding on the family financial situation, namely that you are already carrying a huge burden in student loans till the day you die. That you are contemplating adding more to load on her behalf is distressing, to say the least as you clearly have no hopes of repaying them.
A Parent Plus Loan is YOUR Loan…not your student’s loan. This is going to add to your debt, not your daughter’s.
You already know what having a LOT of debt can mean as an adult…because it’s happening to you as an adult. You are anticipating having your own loan debt until you die.
Is this really what you want your daughter to have? I hope not.