Taking a Gap Semester

[supaflypatty]

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>My question is if my parents have taken out the Direct Federal Plus Loans and have opted to defer the payments since I have been enrolled full time at my school, NYU, and I plan to take the upcoming Fall semester off to continue an internship (think bay area technology and paying a pro-rata salary of $60,000), can they ask to defer those payments for 6 months while I'm below half-time enrollment or will payments begin immediately?</p>

<p>If able to defer for these upcoming 6 months, does this mean it is a one opportunity kind of thing where we won't be able to ask for it again after graduating?</p>

<p>Or if unable to defer for my semester off and I begin making the monthly payments, will we will be able to start deferring payments once again after I return to full-time status at my school?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

[thumper1]

<p>I didn’t think there was a deferral for Plus loans. But I could be wrong. I think they come due if the student is no longer enrolled in college.</p>

[4kidsdad]

<p>Does your school keep you on full-time status while you doing the internship? See <a href=“http://www.direct.ed.gov/parentrepay.html[quote]If”>http://www.direct.ed.gov/parentrepay.html

If</a> you’re a parent PLUS borrower, you can defer repayment of Direct PLUS Loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2008, while the student for whom you obtained the loan is enrolled at least half time, and for an additional 6 months after the student graduates or drops below half-time enrollment (half-time enrollment status is determined by your child’s school). You must separately request each deferment period.

Also see <a href=“http://www.finaid.org/loans/parentloan.phtml[quote]Parents”>http://www.finaid.org/loans/parentloan.phtml

Parents</a> have the option of deferring repayment on Parent PLUS loans while the undergraduate student on whose behalf they borrowed the PLUS loan is in-school and for a six-month grace period after the student graduates or drops below full-time enrollment. This change was enacted by the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008 (PL 110-227), ECASLA, and is effective for Parent PLUS loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2008. (Payments can also be deferred if the parents are themselves enrolled in college. They will need to submit an application for an in-school deferment.)

</p>

[dyiu13]

<p>Would it benefit you financially long-range and your progress toward your degree to register your internship for credit, incur the tuition, and maintain your full-time student status while in a full-time internship? </p>