The U.S. Department of Education offers direct loans specifically for parents of college students, called Parent PLUS loans. Like with other federal student loans, only a few special circumstances qualify parents for loan forgiveness.
Learn more about how Parent PLUS loans work, how to qualify for loan forgiveness and other higher education borrowing tips for parents.
What Is a Parent PLUS Loan?
Parent PLUS loans are part of a federal loan program in which parents borrow funds to help pay for their child’s college expenses. Unlike with other student loans, the parent takes on the full repayment obligation with Parent PLUS loans, explains Katherine Presutti, executive director of financial aid and strategic analytics at the University of Hartford.
“Upon the student’s graduation, the parent is then responsible for repaying that loan,” Presutti says.
What sets this financing apart from other federal student loan programs is that a credit history check is performed on parents to make sure they don’t have adverse credit items like foreclosures or bankruptcies. However, the credit score doesn’t matter in the same way that it might for other types of borrowing, since everyone gets the same interest rate. “If a parent has no credit, they can still be approved because they do not have adverse credit,” says Sarah Austin, policy analyst at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
There is a major change coming to Parent PLUS loans on July 1, 2026. No longer can parents borrow up to the total cost of attendance at their child’s school. Instead, there is a $20,000 yearly limit per dependent student, and a $65,000 aggregate limit per dependent.
The potential amount of loan debt a parent could take on is still very high, especially over a number of years and with multiple children, says Austin. “It’s important for parent borrowers to understand what repayment looks like,” Austin says. She encourages borrowers to use the Loan Simulator tool on the StudentAid.gov website.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Education, 3.6 million people hold Parent PLUS loans. About 7% of federal student loan debt is from Parent PLUS loans borrowed by parents on behalf of their children, according to the Education Data Initiative.
[Read: Best Parent Student Loans: Parent PLUS and Private.]
Are Parent PLUS Loans Eligible for Forgiveness?
There used to be opportunities for Parent PLUS loan forgiveness, but those have been eliminated for future borrowers and all current borrowers who haven’t acted yet. In the past, Parent PLUS borrowers could consolidate their loans and then switch to the Income-Contingent Repayment plan, which forgave loans in 20-25 years, or 10 years for loans that qualified for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
One of the many federal student loan changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act removed Parent PLUS loans from repayment plan options. New Parent PLUS borrowers will only be able to make payments on the standard plan, and existing Parent PLUS borrowers will move to the standard plan.
There are still two instances when PLUS loans could be forgiven:
Death or disability. Parent PLUS loans are discharged if the borrower becomes totally and permanently disabled or passes away. The loan would also be discharged if the student for whom you borrowed dies.
School closure. Your Parent PLUS loan can be discharged if the school your student is attending closes before they complete their program of study. You can also seek discharge if the school falsely certified your loan eligibility or didn’t refund your loan money after your child dropped out.
[Read: Best Student Loans for Bad Credit. ]
Should You Choose a Parent PLUS Loan?
Every family’s financial situation is different, so it’s important to understand all of your options.
If you work for a government or not-for-profit organization and can qualify for PSLF, PLUS loans are worth investigating.
That said, if you have excellent credit or earn too much to be eligible for loan forgiveness, private loans may be the better route. Private lenders allow students to borrow with a parent co-borrower and may offer a better interest rate than the Parent PLUS loan.
“I advise families to borrow conservatively and consider future repayment responsibilities before taking on Parent PLUS loans,” says Johnson.
More from U.S. News
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Parent PLUS Student Loan Forgiveness: What You Should Know originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 06/15/26: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
