Parents Learn Expensive Lessons with College Student Loans

From the StudentLoanHero blog.

Three out of five parents with children heading to college say they expect to help their kids repay student loans, according to a Discover Student Loans survey.

In fact, many parents of adult children are already doing so. Some are making payments on student loans for parents, such as Parent PLUS loans, that they borrowed to help pay for a child’s education. Other parents are repaying student loans that they cosigned.

And how do these student loan payments impact parents’ financial situations? Student Loan Hero recently surveyed parents who took out or cosigned a loan for their child’s education to find out.

55 percent of parents have more than $40,000 in student debt

The survey collected responses from parents who are repaying student loans used to pay for a child’s education, and for which they are legally responsible. This includes cosigned or parent student loans to finance their child’s education.

Among the parents surveyed, the total balances of student debt are high. Looking at both their student loans and student loans they used to pay for a child’s education, here’s a breakdown of student loan balance levels:

23 percent have more than $50,000 in student loan debt
32 percent have more than $40,000 in student loan debt
43 percent have more than $30,000 in student loan debt

Over half (55 percent) of parents surveyed have a combined student loan balance of more than $40,000. This significant financial burden can hold parents back when working toward other financial goals, such as saving for retirement.

Continue reading at https://studentloanhero.com/featured/student-loans-for-parents-survey/.

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