Postsecondary education is more than just a pathway to a degree—for many parents, it is a dream for their children’s future. Yet the soaring costs of higher education have made this dream increasingly unattainable, forcing families to rely on risky borrowing options like the Federal Direct Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (Parent PLUS). Parent PLUS disproportionately saddles low-income parents and parents of color with immense, often unrepayable debt. Parents can face wage garnishment or risk losing a significant source of income—part of their Social Security benefits. This system can warp the promise of postsecondary education into an intergenerational burden. This brief proposes four recommendations to improve the Parent PLUS program and help ensure students and their parents are not driven into debt-burdened poverty to access higher education.
