Parent Plus Loan in Default 114K
My mother has a parent plus loan (98k principal, 16k outstanding interest) that she has defaulted on. I just learned about the existence of this loan in July. I take responsibility for being naive about the debt my parents went into for my undergrad education, so please hold any judgment. If I could go back I simply would have chosen a different school.
I do have confirmation she consolidated the loan in 2024. To be honest I am not 100% certain all of the loans in the consolidation are mine, but my undergrad was very expensive because I went to school for 5 years in NYC and came from out of state.
Might be an important note: when my parents divorced in 2017, part of the divorce decree was for my father to pay half of all her student debt. He made a bulk payment of $122k that went towards my mother’s personal student loans, and both me and my brothers PPL. His understanding was that the remaining half was her responsibility. She is married filing jointly with my now step dad who refuses to help pay the debt as I am not his daughter. She is not asking my brother for money because he only went to college for 2 years before withdrawing, ergo my school cost more.
She is now asking me to help her pay this defaulted PPL back. I am aware it is her legal responsibility. She lives in a different state and our relationship has been strained for years.
I have my own federal student debt in my name which I am repaying at $34k. I am 31 years old, live in NYC, and do not feel prepared to take on her debt and potentially delay my financial future. I make 105k salary.
My most burning question is as follows: She is currently negotiating with DMCS for a lower rehabilitation rate. Once she rehabilitates the loan, how can I know for certain that this won’t somehow re-consolidate the loan and ruin any pathway to IDR forgiveness given the new OBBA? Once she fulfills the 10 month rehabilitation process— I will make sure she signs up for ICR, makes one payment, and moves to IBR. What possible hurdle might we be overlooking? Could new administration further block IDR for PPL borrowers or is there some simple clerical mistake that she could make to consolidate this loan again, accidentally? She is done borrowing, but if she messes with her direct non-PPL loans and consolidates those, would that ruin the IDR path for the PPL? And if she defaults again, what will happen? My understanding is you can only rehabilitate a loan once in its lifetime.
My mother has not made a payment on this loan since she consolidated it in 2024, she is a public school art teacher, 59 years old and plans to retire at 66. She has not certified any PSLF payments.
As I previously stated I just learned about this dire circumstance in July. Outside of the moral dilemma I am deeply involved in, this loan feels incredibly fragile and confusing and I am worried about her navigating the easiest path towards forgiveness/repayment.
Thank you!