Hi. I am not a financial aid professional (as you will probably be able to tell by my post!) But I have helped a lot of people with preparing their FAFSA and applying for scholarships. I ran into a situation I haven't come across before so I wondered if anyone could help. There is a family I am "working" with (voluntarily) that has an EFC of $15,000. They wish to send their child to SUNY Binghampton but would have to take out $80,000 in loans. ($31,000 borrowed by the student, $50,000 borrowed by them.) I told them I thought this was way to much to borrow. But here's the thing. There is no two year school within commuting distance of their house. Right now, they have the income to pay back their parent plus loans. But in the next three years their income may significantly drop due to a retirement. Is it true that Parent Plus loans can be put into the Income Contingent Repayment program? Also, one of the parents has their own student loan in the IBR program right now. They asked me if it is possible to consolidate their IBR loan with the Parent Plus loans they would borrow and if the ICR repayment would be based off that? Their line of thinking is that when their income drops, their required payment would drop and it would still be affordable. I don't know their income but my estimate is its around $100,000 now and would be around $60,000 after retirement. I have never heard of a situation like this and I would say this is just to much debt. But they seemed determined. Is this even possible? And if it is possible, should people with low incomes take high parent plus loans because their payment would be income contingent? If a person earned $40,000 (I just picked a number) what's the difference in borrowing $40,000 or $140,000 if they can use ICR?
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