Do you know anyone who might’ve taken out a Parent PLUS student loan since 2001? (This could be your parents!)
Have you ever taken out Parent PLUS loans to pay for your kids’ college? Key protections are about to disappear for you—but you can jump to safety if you act now.
This article both explains what’s going on—and provides step-by-step directions on exactly what to do to create your escape hatch and your safety net.
First, understand that Parent PLUS loan debt is a huge problem.
More than 3.6 million borrowers have these loans. Betsy Mayotte of the nonprofit freestudentloanadvice.org reports here that, ” . . . a recent study by the Brookings Institution indicates that the average Parent Plus borrower still owes at least half of what they borrowed after 10 years in repayment. Black and Hispanic families suffer these struggles disproportionately among federal loan borrowers. It is also notable to mention that 25% of existing Parent Plus borrowers are over 60 years old.”
They’re over 60 years old, and they’ve signed up to pay on student loans that will take 10–25 years to pay off.
These borrowers need relief—and so do you.
Unless you’re fabulously rich, take action now to create a safety net for yourself.
If you wait until after April 1st, 2026 to take action, you won’t have time to complete the necessary steps before the hard-stop federal deadline.
Creating your safety net is free—and my clear, step-by-step explanation of how to do that is free—but it will require some of your time and attention.
Because of changes in federal law that will take effect in 2026, Parent PLUS loan borrowers who fail to take action now will never be granted a reduced monthly payment—no matter how desperately they may need it.
Those who take action now have the potential to be granted a lower monthly payment as soon as 90 days from now.
Someone you care about took out a Parent PLUS student loan in the last 25 years? Here’s what’s changing.
Prior to 2026, parents who took out Parent PLUS loans to pay for their kids’ college could get themselves a lower monthly payment if their financial situation got dire.
A parent getting on in years who got a brutal case of stage 4 cancer, permanently lost a lifelong career, was financially devastated by divorce, became permanently disabled, or needed to move into a memory care facility could say, “I just can’t pay these gigantic Parent PLUS loan payments anymore. Can I get a reduced monthly payment?”
For years, the answer would be, “Yes.” Pay a lower payment for a sickening 25 years, and at the end of that time the remaining balance on the Parent PLUS loan would be forgiven.
But that’s changing.
Federal law passed in July of 2025 mandates that all Parent PLUS loan borrowers pay their full monthly payments for the full term of their repayment schedule. There are now no exceptions for situations where these aging parents face dire life circumstances.
The one escape hatch is—take the clear steps I provide for you below. Do it before April 1st, 2026. It’s free.
Complete the steps below, and if your income drops at any time in the future, you’ll be able to get your monthly Parent PLUS payment reduced. You could get it reduced all the way down to a $0 monthly payment.
Don’t worry that what I’m about to say sounds complicated. I’ll walk you through it.
The escape hatch the federal government has provided requires you to convert all your existing Parent PLUS loans into one “Direct Consolidation Loan.” Then—unless you’re fabulously rich*, sign up for an “Income-Contingent Repayment Plan” and make one payment on that plan within a certain time window.
Don’t wait until the last minute on this. Staffing shortages at the U.S. Department of Education and long processing times could cause you to miss the hard-stop deadline if you don’t start now.
* Follow the steps I provide below and I’ll help you determine whether you’re “fabulously rich” and so don’t need to do this.
“Wow—this is going to take a little work. If things get dire, maybe I’ll just stop paying on these Parent PLUS loans and get out of them that way.”
Some parent borrowers will be forced to do this. They’ll fail to pay on these loans for 270 days, and after that, the loans will enter “default.”
That means the entire amount of the loan will become due immediately—including all interest, penalties, and collection fees. At this point, the federal government can garnish wages and social security checks, seize tax refunds, and legally take money right out of parents’ bank accounts.
Some parents will sigh and say, “Well, if they’re going to garnish my wages or my social security check, they’ll only take 15% of it. Yes, it’ll decimate my credit, but I guess I’ll just let that happen.”
We want to avoid this for you. There is an easier way if you act now.
“OK! What do we need to do about our Parent PLUS loans right now?”
First thing—we need to determine whether you have any Parent PLUS loans you’ve forgotten about. (Some parents have Parent PLUS loans on autopay, seldom look at them, and can easily forget having them.)
Do not rely on any loan servicer to give you accurate information about Parent PLUS loans. The loan servicer’s customer service representatives mean well, but they may not be trained in exactly what you need to know on this topic. Instead, take the steps I provide for you here.
Click below—I’ll give you clear, step-by-step directions:
If any of the steps I’m prescribing above change in the coming months, I’ll clarify the new strategy in my email newsletter. You can subscribe for free here.
Share this article with a family who might have had a kid in college anytime since 2001.
Financial advisors especially, tell your clients.
Financial advisors, I strongly suggest you call all your clients, ask if there’s any chance they or their parents have even one Parent PLUS loan, and then send this article to them. Urge these clients to follow the steps they see when they click the image above. Don’t email. Call. It’s that urgent.
If you’re looking for more information on this urgent situation, you can look over this article by Forbes Senior Contributor Adam S. Minsky, an attorney and writer who focuses on student loans. Adam does a good job waving a red flag and telling us that this is an urgent problem, but he wasn’t given enough space to walk us through what to do about the problem. I do that for you when you click on the image above.
Scare yourself into not getting Parent PLUS loans in the first place.
Read the article I wrote about Parent PLUS loan dangers here.
Do you love kids who don’t yet have student loan debt? Get the book I wrote. (If you get one idea out of this book, it’ll be worth it):
Important—> It’s a reference book, so nobody reads the whole thing cover to cover. Pick out what you need to read in it using the fast-paced, 10-minute video instructions here.
You can see hundreds of reviews of this book on Amazon by going to:
Read just one chapter of LAUNCH every 1–3 months while your child’s in middle school and high school, and you’ll know every viable strategy for debt-free college at exactly the right time to implement it.
And if your child’s already well past middle school? That’s OK; you can run to catch up. But the process of getting your kids through college debt-free goes more smoothly the earlier you start—especially if you’re not planning to save up any money to pay for college.
Let's you and I walk together toward the goal of debt-free college for your kids.
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Who is Jeannie Burlowski?
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free, ready to jump directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News & World Report, as well as on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com. You can follow her on Bluesky @jburlowski.bsky.social.
No part of this article was written using AI.
This article was updated on February 2nd, 2026.
NOTE: The author of this article is not a financial advisor, accountant, or attorney, and is not engaged in rendering financial planning, accounting, tax, or legal advice. Access the services of a qualified financial planning professional when you need specific direction applying what’s been said here to your individual financial situation.