So my younger brother is about to make what I think is a very dumb decision when it comes to his undergrad education. He is planning on going OOS to his dream school that is 30k a year in tuition alone to study engineering. Yes I know this is stupid, yes my parents know this is stupid, yes we have said this to him many times. Despite our advice, he plans to go through with it and my parents (forever the angels) have given up on changing his mind. They have agreed to take out loans with the caveat that he pays them back. My parents are immigrants and are truly naive to this process, but they're also loving parents who will do anything for their children (and I know they would've done the same for me had I asked)
My fear is he will not help them pay them back. I've been trying for months to change his mind about going here and I can't, so what I am trying to do is minimize the collateral damage this will have on my parents. With the new borrowing limits how should I advise my parents to proceed? Parent PLUS caps will be exceeded so eventually it would have to be his federal loan, my parents' Parent PLUS and a private to finance the rest. Or should they just do a private loan for all of it so it's a single loan payment at the end?
YES I know this is absolutely ridiculous, but with my hands tied I am simply trying to minimize the damage. Of course he claims he will pay them back and work during school to help pay, and my parents plan on trying to pay them off as he goes, just trying to pick the best course of action to protect my parents.
Student Loans – Trying to save my parents
byu/GarrettGator inStudentLoans
Posted by GarrettGator
5 Comments
You are not wrong in being worried. “Just pay them back” is easy to say, so the loan kicks in and then he graduates and all that. What if something happened like a medical emergency made it to where he wouldn’t be able to perform the type of job he got the loans for, or for something to happen to either of your parents ( knock on wood ), it would be a huge sinkhole that would be a never ending nightmare for the family… if they can’t pay for him to take classes without a loan, how are they going to find themselves to pay for the loan taken out for the classes…. you are doing your family a mighty service by being aggressive about this, btw, & he is being kind of selfish, but idk if he realizes he is being selfish because there is a naivete that comes with not fully registering being loaned that sort of money.
I don’t know what to say besides show them all the posts on this reddit from parents of children that stuck them with the loans.
Taking undergrad courses at an expensive school is flat out stupid, and if that’s the kind of financial decisions your brother is making, it’s not likely he’ll make better ones in the future. He should go to a community college.
If your parents absolutely, 100% insist on doing and will not under any circumstance back down. They should seriously consider requiring your brother as a co-signer on the loans. Make him put his skin in the game so he has to pay them back. This whole idea is not good but at least force his future hand.
Does he not plan to work while he attends? He can work right now to save before he gets there if he really wants to go.
I would not use a private loan only as a very last resort. Federal loans are to go. Or maybe you need to tell him you guys can’t afford for him to go and look at a local community college and then look to transfer.
Was he offered a scholarship offer? If he wasn’t academically driven… that’s something to weigh in. Of course you want, Whattt he wants but is it practical and realistic? Does he have money saved up to help curb the cost?
Does he need to live on campus or can he commute or does he need to entirely relocate? If he’s doing everything solo then he really needs to start working and save up X of money. He should have already been trying to apply to scholarships applications too.
Plenty of schools offer an engineering program. Usually it’s a 5-year program because of the specific course they need for the profession.
What’s his reasoning for going to this school? They are offering an institutional scholarship? Or are you just dependent on federal loans only and grants?
These are the things to consider. If he really wants to go he should really already have something saved or attempt with a plan before any motion is done.
The plus loan caps at $20k annually and max amount is $65k you can take out the parent plus loan is sloely under your mom or dads name it wil never unfortunately be in your brothers name even with the new regulations…
Also you mention parents are immigrants, are they Citizens or non citizens??