r/TheCollegeInvestor

• Sanders introduced a bill to ban Social Security garnishment for defaulted student loans
• Current law lets the government offset up to 15% of a Social Security check for a defaulted federal loan, as long as you're left with $750/month
• Context: 9M+ borrowers in default, 3M+ Americans over 62 with student debt

Here is my situation and I’m trying to determine if I would qualify for legacy parent plus loan limits. My son transferred after his freshman year to another school and is currently about to start his senior year in college. He is on track to graduate in 4 years. We did not take out any parent plus loans in his first year(old school) We did take out loans in his second and third year (new school same program)We are applying for another loan to cover his senior year and I see that the limits have changed due to the new laws by the current administration. Loans were taken out prior to July 1 2026. He has been in the same program but did transfer schools (even though we did not borrow any money for the prior school). Does this mean I will be subject to the new limits? I’m very confused. Does transferring schools prior to taking out any loans automatically disqualify your legacy parent loan status?

• AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT, and National Nurses United sue Department of Education over the "professional degree" definition
• The RISE rule limits "professional student" status ($50K/yr, $200K aggregate) to 11 named programs, which they claim was created in a way that didn't follow the rules
• This is the third major challenge: 23 states sued earlier, and a June injunction in the nurse practitioners' case already forced ED to temporarily expand the list to 29 programs.

Maybe a dumb question...heck the story is dumb!

Background:

• Have an 18 yo leaving for uni tomorrow
• Divorced for like 12 years
• Ex and i are splitting cost of college 50/50
• Totally forgot i had set up a 529 (brightstart) when the kid was small. Apparently the ex forgot, too. I remembered when i went to the uni pay portal.
• Stopped contributing around time of separation. Hadnt even accessed the account in so long i had to call to get access reinstated. Thought there was like 5k in there, so i wasnt really excited when i remembered. Turns out there was multiples more and thanks to compounding, its now > half of 4 years of college!

So here's the root of my question.

• the ex already paid her half, $10k (i now have to pay the other 10k in the next few weeks)
• Question: Am i able to pay myself from the 529 for her 10k and then pay her the 10k back?
• Is there any weirdness that will happen from that? LIke taxes or anything?

Thanks for letting me know any considerations. I did just tell the ex, and since we will spend more than the 529 anyway, she is apparently ok with just dealing later if i cant fix it now. Thats what she says now, she may change her mind later!

• The child must be 18+, out of school at least 180 days, and demonstrate ability to repay (income, credit history, and debt-to-income are all reviewed) and the parent, child, and loan holder must all agree in writing
• The parent is fully released after transfer, the loan keeps its original origination date, and any qualifying PSLF payments the parent made count toward the child's 120
• The transferred balance would not count against the child's annual or aggregate federal borrowing limits

I'm not sure what to do at this point. I am a rising junior at Penn State, and this will be my first semester at the main campus (University Park). I've wanted this for so long, which is why I did the 2+2 program. However, the tuition bill is 24,000 for ONE semester. I'm scared of being in financial ruin and don't want to pull out loans that'll lead me to a hole in the future, especially considering I see grad school in my future. I have already accumulated $7,000 in student loans.

I began looking at scholarships, and they're all such incredibly niche topics I don't fit in, or have huge pools that make one feel discouraged. I know people said to look up local organization scholarships... but I didn't find any, and I need this money NOW!

I love learning, and I'm a First-gen student; it means so much to me that I get my degree and the money I have spent so far doesn't go to waste.

What next step do I take? Should I take a leave and try again spring semster? Truly, what are the next steps to take?

If anyone knows of any real scholarships that can help, let me know PLEASE. I truly just want some genuine advice. I've never been taught about financial literacy, and my mom keeps pushing me to get the loans.

• NY Fed Q2 data: student loan balances fell $7B, while new serious delinquencies dropped to 7.83% from 12.88%
• The widely reported 9.5 million default count made assumptions from ED data that ended in March 2026 but no official default numbers have been published since
• The Fed's new report is the first independent read since March, and it shows new serious delinquency transitions falling sharply year over year

i'm 22 and thinking about going back to school, but am trying to figure out if i could actually afford it. there is nothing more that i want to attend the program that i am currently looking at lol

fafsa considers me an independent student. i make around $15k a year, have basically $0 in savings, no dependents, and my parents don't financially support me.

the school i'm looking at would be around $41k a year including tuition, housing, food, etc.

from what i've been reading, i could potentially get pell grants + need-based aid and then use federal student loans to cover some of the rest, including room and board.

but i honestly have no idea how realistic that is :((

for anyone who's been in a similar situation:

• how much financial aid did you end up getting?
• did being an independent student make a big difference?
• how much did you pay out of pocket?
• can federal loans actually be used for housing/food?
• is it realistic to get a $40k-ish school down to a much smaller amount out of pocket?

i'm okay with taking on some student loan debt if it means i can actually go to school. would love to hear from anyone who's been through this.

Apparently, my family’s total income a year ago was around $375k before taxes, but with the IRA now, it's about $400k. She gets taxed so badly. I feel terrible because she gets insulted when I worry about her and try to help. Still, I know she's extremely stressed about how I want to attend great colleges that, unfortunately, cost a lot of money, but she's so proud of me for aiming high that she won't admit any limits. Recently, she made a $150k profit from selling real estate, so she's going to face even worse taxes—she told me she’ll have to hire someone in finance to assist her. Another downside, besides the fact that I can't qualify for financial aid, is that my mom and dad grew up very differently—one was a high achiever, the other not at all—and his family also refused to pay for him, so he told me he would never help pay for a car, college, or anything else. All the financial strain would fall on her. It doesn't help that my sister is going straight to college after I finish undergrad. She also wants to retire early, by around 55 to 60 years old. There’s one 529 plan for me and one for my sister, but she knows I’m aware there isn’t much saved in either. So, what do I do? I swear we’ve ruined her life.

• New bipartisan bill would let 529 plan beneficiaries withdraw up to $35,000 tax-free for a first-time home purchase
• Modeled on the SECURE 2.0 529-to-Roth rollover: account must be open 15+ years, and contributions from the last 5 years are excluded
• The $35,000 is a combined lifetime cap shared with the Roth rollover, so using one reduces the other

• Borrowers began seeing sudden drops in qualifying payment counts this week, some losing credit going back years; some received "Qualifying Payment Reduction Notices"
• A banner now on account dashboards says the counts are incorrect, the department is working on the data issue, and an update is coming
• In the meantime, download payment history, save ECF approvals, and screenshot the month-by-month tracker

• Analysis of the Aug 7 filing in Havens v. Dept. of Education (the last SAVE shutdown lawsuit)
• Plaintiffs argue vacating SAVE legally revived REPAY, and that ED's refusal to offer it is a "shadow repeal" without rulemaking.
• ED's response: the Eighth Circuit already said REPAYE forgiveness shares SAVE's legal problem, two plaintiffs skipped the Dec 31, 2025 tax-free discharge window, and the non-tax harm is ~$55/month combined. Lead plaintiff would pay more under REPAYE.

• Families making under $200K pay max $20K/year, under $75K pay $0, no loans in aid packages (starting 2026–27)
• Financial aid meets 100% of demonstrated need without loans for first-time, first-year US citizens and permanent residents
• Tuition alone is $73,024, so full tuition is covered at every tier, while families over $200K are still told to apply since BU weighs circumstances like multiple kids in college

• GAO report: Education Dept often doesn't coordinate with loan servicers before program changes
• GAO reviewed 68 change requests from March 2020–Dec 2024
• One change took 6 rounds of Q&A over 2 months while loan servicers once got 1 business day's notice before IDR payment counts went live on StudentAid

• Skilled Trades Pay Off Early, But Federal Data Shows a 124% Higher Disability Risk
• Longer working lives (not higher pay) became the main source of late-career earnings growth between ages 45 and 64.
• Construction workers have access to a defined contribution plan only 68% of the time but participate only 45% of the time, the lowest participation of any sector studied. Shorter earning window plus lower savings rate adds risks.