economy
Parents with student loans are running out of time to secure forgiveness and affordable payments
Parents with student debt still have time to consolidate their loans and preserve their access to affordable repayment plans and debt forgiveness.
TL;DR
- Parent PLUS borrowers need to consolidate their loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan by the end of April to preserve access to income-driven repayment (IDR) plans.
- Starting July 1, Parent PLUS borrowers will no longer qualify for IDR plans due to legislative changes.
- Consolidation must be completed before July 1, 2026, with applications in April likely to be processed in time.
- During consolidation, borrowers must select the Income-Contingent Repayment plan and make one payment before potentially moving to the Income-Based Repayment plan.
- Parent borrowers who do not consolidate will be limited to the Standard Repayment Plan or the new Tiered Standard Repayment Plan, which offers no loan forgiveness.
- The Tiered Standard Repayment Plan has repayment terms ranging from 10 to 25 years based on the loan balance.