Got financial aid package for twins but still $26K short - no Parent Plus loan eligibility

same boat here with my son. ended up having him take a gap year and reapply to cheaper schools + more scholarships. sucks but college is just ridiculous now

There are several options you might consider: 1. Appeal the financial aid package - contact the financial aid office directly and explain your situation with the medical bills that affected your credit. Many schools have a special circumstances appeal process. 2. Look into Parent PLUS Loan endorsers - you can get an endorser (similar to a co-signer) who agrees to pay the loan if you don't. Grandparents or other relatives sometimes help with this. 3. Consider having your children attend community college for core classes and transfer to save on the first two years. 4. Ask about payment plans - many schools offer monthly payment plans that might make the costs more manageable without loans. 5. Have your students look for part-time work through Federal Work-Study or off-campus jobs to contribute more.

WELCOME TO THE SCAM that is american higher education!!! $89k is NOT enough to pay for college anymore and they KNOW IT but they keep raising tuition anyway. the whole sai system is a JOKE. my daughter had to drop out after first semester because we couldn't make the math work either. its criminal what theyre doing to middle class families!!!!

When I got denied for Parent Plus loans last year for my son, I spent weeks trying to get through to someone at FSA to discuss appeal options. Kept getting disconnected or waiting for hours. I finally used Claimyr.com to get through to an agent in about 8 minutes - they have this service where they wait on hold for you and call when an agent answers. Saved me so much stress. There's a demo video at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. The agent explained some additional options for Parent PLUS denials that weren't on the website.

have u checked if your kids qualify for more aid based on parent plus denial? when i got denied for plus loans my daughter got like $4k more in unsubisdized loans automatically. not enough to cover everything but helped some

Financial aid professional here. When parents are denied for PLUS loans, I always recommend these steps: 1. First, ensure your children receive the additional unsubsidized loan amounts they're entitled to ($4,000/year for freshmen and sophomores, $5,000/year for juniors and seniors) 2. File a special circumstances appeal specifically addressing the medical bills that led to the collections. Provide documentation showing these were unavoidable expenses. 3. Ask the financial aid office about institutional payment plans - many schools offer 10-12 month plans that can make the remaining balance more manageable. 4. Look into whether either school offers institutional loans (different from federal loans) which often have more flexible credit requirements. 5. Consider whether one child might defer for a year to stagger the college expenses. Also, remember that the SAI isn't necessarily what schools expect you to pay out-of-pocket in a single year. Many families use a combination of current income, savings, and borrowing spread over time.

We were in almost exactly your situation with twins three years ago! What helped us was appealing directly to each school's financial aid office with a letter explaining our specific circumstances (in our case, caring for an elderly parent alongside college costs). One school increased their institutional grant by $5,000 per student. We also looked at the CSS Profile schools which sometimes have more institutional aid for middle-income families than FAFSA-only schools. For the remaining gap, we ended up having grandparents serve as endorsers for the Parent PLUS loans. It's worth exploring if you have family members with good credit who might help. Without that, we would have had to choose less expensive schools.

anybody notice how the FAFSA is SUPPOSEDLY easier now but somehow gives LESS aid than before?? my nephew got $3400 LESS this year with the "simplified" fafsa and their financial situation is EXACTLY THE SAME!!

Update: I want to thank everyone for their advice. I called both financial aid offices this morning and learned that my twins ARE eligible for additional unsubsidized loans because of our Parent PLUS denial. That will cover about $8,000 of our gap. I've also scheduled appointments to discuss institutional payment plans and possible additional grants based on our medical bill situation. My sister has agreed to look into being an endorser for a smaller Parent PLUS loan to cover the remaining amount. I'm still stressed but feeling like we have a path forward now.