Hello, my parent took out a Parent Plus loan for me in 2018. The deferment period ended in November 2025 and now they are asking me to make the payments. I want to lower the monthly payment since I am currently under-employed and make $800/month before tax. I just moved back to the US in August 2025 and have been searching for full-time work. My family does not support me and I am living off savings in a HCOL area. I can’t even afford my own rent and relocating back to the US cost me a lot of money. They have their own student loans totaling around $100k or more, some of which were taken out while I was in middle school until I was in college. Their loans have been on an IDR plan and have monthly payments of $0. Because of their own student loans they don’t want to consolidate the Parent Plus loan because they are counting on forgiveness after making “payments” for *25 years. I don’t know how many years they have left until their own loans are forgiven, however, I’m trying to figure out how to lower the monthly payment of the Parent Plus loan. It is based on their income and as far as I know they probably make $35-40k a year. Any advice is welcomed, thank you!
Edit: some details and words for clarity
Parent Plus Loan: Parent won’t consolidate their other student loans to lower monthly payment. What can I do?
byu/96rising inStudentLoans
Posted by 96rising
6 Comments
Legally, the parent plus loans are their problem. You have no legal obligation to pay them, it is their credit that will take the hit. And sadly, if they are are trying to do PSLF, then they should have taken advantage of consolidation before that expired.
I mean, you’re unemployed. The PP loan is their responsibility, not yours. They should pay it.
They are right not to consolidate because they have likely made significant progress towards forgiveness.
They can consolidate the parent plus loan by itself to be eligible for ICR. They do not have to include their older loans in the consolidation. And they shouldn’t because it would reset their count towards forgiveness. Just have them consolidate the parent plus loan alone. It will not harm their progress towards forgiveness on the other loans.
Like others have said, they can consolidate the PP loan by itself to make it eligible for ICR.
They would then need to get that loan onto ICR (or IBR, if that’s what they are already on) – if their other loans are at $0 per month payments, the PP loan would probably also end up with $0 monthly payments since the payment would be based on their income.
But, like others have said, that PP loan is their LEGAL responsibility and if it defaults (because you can’t afford to make the payment and they don’t/won’t make the payment), they would potentially lose their current student loan repayment option, have to rehab all of their loans, and the default would also affect their credit – not yours.
I would imagine that if they were to check on their servicer website or the Dept of Ed website, they now have a monthly payment due (or possibly already late if no one made the December payment.
I commend you for trying to the right thing since the loan was taken out for your education, but your parents need to work with you if they truly expect you to pay their debt.
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Tell them you can’t pay it until they consolidate.