Refinancing Parent Plus and Student Loans

[LuvOrlando]

So we are nearly done with the kids in school but keeping all the separate semester loans separate seems to be asking for trouble, 2 kids in school at the same time means too many loose ends to think I won't make a mistake.

Wondering what other people do? Any good resources? Thoughts? Experience? Good books or resources from reputable entities?

Same for my kids, they picked up the Stafford part but will have a bunch to keep track of themselves.

Seems like a Medusa will be rolling out as soon as deferment is over so I think a plan is appropriate but I have no idea, I went to CUNY myself so there were no loans and so zero experience.

 

[tvguy]

I'll be honest, never paid attention to the separate loans, just focused on putting every spare dollar towards paying them off.
We had paid off our house before our oldest started College, so that $1,100 a month that was the house payment went to college tuition every month, or student loan payments.
Oldest child went to private University and all the loans were for his education, with a goal of preserving our College savings for his younger sister who is 4 years younger. She went to a California State University so her tuition never exceeded $5,450 a year, the $1,100 more than covered her expenses with the balance going to pay off her brother's loans. Took 3 years after my oldest graduated, but paid off all the loans.

 

[clh2]

Do the financial aid offices at the schools have any suggestions?

we keep spreadsheets on our mortgage and car payments, that clearly show the principal, interest, by month, so we clearly know what is going.

 

[ctinct]

I’m not quite sure, but I think you are saying you are afraid of keeping track of payment dates so you don’t miss one? If that’s the case, I know all my daughter’s student loans, including grad school, are due on the same day. They are all federal loans, though, not private. If there are private loans in the mix, I wonder if you can have them adjust the due date to align
with the federal loans?

Your thread title mentions refinancing. If you refinance the federal loans into private loans, say through SoFi, just remember that those loans will lose some of the advantages federal loans have. For example, private loans are not eligible for the interest free payment pause that is happening right now, nor are they eligible for income based repayment, or forgiveness due to death.

One thing that I’m doing that is new because of one of the laws passed due to Covid is running the payment money for the Loans I have for my own college (attended as an adult) through a 529 first. My state has tax advantages for doing this, and you are now allowed to own a 529 to pay for your own loans. Trying to convince my daughter to do this, too, but she is paying her loans off very aggressively, so she doesn’t want to be bothered with an extra step.

 

[Mrs. Bradbury]

I'm not sure if I understand what you're asking, but I will say that I have Parent Plus loans from my daughter's education, and the government agency who oversees them combined all of the individual semester loans into one loan that I'm repaying. Certain repayment plans for Parent Plus loans also qualify for PSLF.

 

[afan]

Once your kids graduate they will start getting stuff in the mail about consolidating their loans. At least I'm guessing that hasn't changed since the early/mid 00's when I graduated both times. I have two BS from two different Cal State schools and when I finished the 2nd had 2 subsidized loans and one that wasn't. I consolidated with someone, I don't remember who it was, it's Navient now, but they may have bought it/name changed, I honestly don't remember. I looked at various options and spoke with a friend that worked in the student aid office at the time to make the best choice. It got me a low interest rate, my subsidized loans combined and my unsubsidized was attached to it. So one payment is made and it splits it to each bucket.

If that's what you are referring to wanting to do, I don't know if there's something similar for parents loans, but I'd google consolidating parent plus loans and see what you can find. I imagine if your kids want to start looking prior to graduating they can do the same for subsidized and start figuring out who they want to use. Unless it's changed, they'll get 6 months before they are required to make payments after graduation, so may want to take that into account as I don't know that it would transfer if consolidated. I know that they did keep the rest, you could still have forebarance, adjust your payments etc after I consolidated.