Are Parent Plus loans eligible for income-driven repayment? Need FAFSA expert clarification

Parent Plus loans CAN qualify for income-driven repayment, but it's not straightforward. They're only eligible for Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR), and ONLY after your parent consolidates them into a Direct Consolidation Loan first. The other income-driven options (IBR, PAYE, REPAYE) aren't available for Parent Plus loans, even after consolidation. The ICR plan caps payments at 20% of your parent's discretionary income and offers forgiveness after 25 years of payments. It's not as generous as the plans available for direct student loans, but it's something if your parents are struggling. Be aware that the consolidation is a critical step - without it, they can't access any income-driven options.

Im pretty sure this is wrong i tried to get income driven payments for my parent plus loans and got denied they told me they dont qualify for ANY income plans!!! the whole system is rigged to make us pay more

I went through this exact process with my parent's Plus loans last year. Here's what we learned: - Parent Plus loans by themselves are NOT eligible for any income-driven repayment plans - Once consolidated into a Direct Consolidation Loan, they become eligible ONLY for Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) - ICR sets payments at 20% of discretionary income (vs. 10-15% for other IDR plans) - The consolidation keeps the weighted average interest rate of the original loans (rounded up to nearest 1/8%) - The consolidation application is on studentaid.gov under "Loan Consolidation" - After consolidation is complete, you submit a separate application for ICR - Only the parent's income matters for the ICR calculation, not the student's The process took about 6-8 weeks for us from start to finish. One important note: if your parent is pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness, consolidation resets the payment count, so timing matters.

my sisters boyfriend works in financial aid and he said they changed the rules recently and now Parent Plus loans CAN get income driven repayment without consolidating first. does anyone know if thats true???

I wasted 3 months trying to get my Parent Plus loans on an income plan. No one at the servicer explained I needed to consolidate first. I kept calling, waiting on hold FOREVER, talking to different people who told me different things. Finally got someone who actually knew the rules. If you're having trouble reaching Federal Student Aid customer service, try using Claimyr (claimyr.com). It got me connected to an agent in about 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. Their video demo shows how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ After using them and getting to an actual knowledgeable FSA agent, I finally got the consolidation process started correctly. My Parent Plus loans are now on ICR and the payments are much more manageable based on my income.

wait i'm confused... who makes the payments on parent plus loans? the parent or the student? and does the parents income or students income count for the ICR thing?

DONT DO ICR!!! My mom consolidated her Parent Plus loans and got on ICR last year and now her balance is HIGHER than when she started because the payments don't even cover interest!!! These loans are a trap designed to keep parents paying forever!

Thank you all for the helpful responses! I've collected the info and talked it through with my parents. We're going to start the consolidation process next month and then apply for ICR. It's disappointing that Parent Plus loans don't qualify for the better income-driven plans, but at least there's some option to make the payments more manageable as they approach retirement. I'll make sure they complete both steps correctly so we don't waste time getting denied.

Just wanted to add one more consideration that hasn't been mentioned yet - the timing of consolidation matters if your parents have made any payments already. When you consolidate Parent Plus loans, you lose credit for any payments made toward potential forgiveness programs, but you also get a "fresh start" on the repayment timeline. Also, while ICR isn't as generous as other income-driven plans, it's worth calculating whether the 25-year forgiveness timeline might actually work in your parents' favor if they're approaching retirement. Sometimes the math works out better than trying to pay off the full balance, especially if their post-retirement income will be lower. Make sure to use the Federal Student Aid repayment estimator tool before making the final decision - it can help compare what they'd pay under standard repayment vs. ICR over the life of the loan.