Parents often want to help their children pay for college costs. With the cost of postsecondary education steadily increasing parents often need help, in the form of loans, to help shoulder the hefty financial burden. Plus Loans offer parents a way to borrow low interest loans, guaranteed by the federal government, to help pay for their child's education.

Parents Benefit From Plus Student Loan Consolidation

Once the child leaves college, parents must then find a way to repay their Plus Loans without causing undue financial hardship. Consolidating their Plus Loans allows parent borrowers to comfortably repay their Plus Loans. Parents can consolidate through the FFEL or Direct Plus consolidation loan program.

Parents are eligible to consolidate their Plus Loans or Direct Plus Loans as soon as they have been fully disbursed. Current federal guidelines permit parents to consolidate their dependent's freshman year Plus Loan by itself and later reconsolidate by adding on future Plus Loans. Additionally, parent borrowers are permitted to consolidate their Plus Loans at anytime regardless of their dependent student's enrollment status. If parent borrowers want to apply for a FFEL PLUS Consolidation Loan there is no credit check required. However, a credit check is required for parents who choose to apply for a Direct PLUS Consolidation Loan.

Depending on your total debt, Plus student loan consolidation programs allow you to stretch your loan repayment out over up to 30 years and significantly reduce your monthly loan payments. In addition to reducing monthly payments, taking advantage of a Plus student loan consolidation program when interest rates are low, allows parents to secure a low interest rate for the entire repayment period. Borrowers have the option of repaying the total amount of the loan in a shorter amount of time without incurring any prepayment penalties.

Parent borrowers have the option of choosing the repayment plan that best fits their financial situations. All the FFEL repayment plans are available to FFEL Plus consolidation loan borrowers. The plans to chose from are: the standard, extended, graduated and income-sensitive plans. The payment plan choices for the Direct Plus consolidation program are: the standard, extended, graduated, and income contingent payment plans.