Ayelet Sheffey

Parents who took out student loans for their kids are quickly approaching a key relief deadline

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Parent student-loan borrowers have to act quickly to keep their affordable monthly payments.

President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful” spending legislation made sweeping changes to student-loan repayment, and loans that parents take out for their kids, known as parent PLUS, are facing a key deadline.

Currently, parents can take out loans equal to the full cost of attendance. Beginning July 1, 2026, parent PLUS borrowers will face a $20,000 annual cap and a $65,000 lifetime cap on borrowing per student. Also, loans issued after July 1 will not be eligible for income-driven repayment plans, which aim to give borrowers affordable payments based on income and offer loan forgiveness in 20 to 25 years.

This means that parent PLUS borrowers who are not on an income-driven repayment plan need to consolidate their loans into a federal direct loan before July 1 to retain access to affordable payments. The Department of Education recommends that borrowers seeking to consolidate do so “at least three months” before July 1 — that is, before April 1 — to account for any processing delays.

Once the consolidation is approved, borrowers have until July 1, 2028, to enroll in an IDR plan. After that date, existing income-driven repayment plans will be phased out and replaced with two options: a standard repayment plan, which offers fixed monthly payments for a period up to 25 years, or a new Repayment Assistance Plan, which sets payments based on income with forgiveness after 30 years.

RAP has less generous terms than existing repayment plans, and borrowers are likely to face higher monthly payments.

Parent PLUS borrowers who do not consolidate before July 1 will lose access to income-driven repayment plans, as will those who initiate a new loan after that date.

Alongside the parent PLUS changes, the Department of Education is eliminating the Grad PLUS program, which allowed graduate and professional students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance for their advanced degrees. Policy experts and lawmakers previously told Business Insider that the new borrowing caps could drive more parents and students to private lending, which could have riskier terms and higher interest rates.

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Education decreased oversight over federal student-loan servicers, putting borrowers at risk of billing errors as the repayment changes are implemented. Additionally, the department recently announced that it will be transferring part of the federal student-loan portfolio to the Treasury, which advocates and Democratic lawmakers said opens the door for transfer errors.

Have a story to share about student loans? Reach out to this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.




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I’m a Stanford student who uses the new dating app that’s taken the campus by storm. It’s fun, but I haven’t met my match yet.

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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mila Wagner-Sanchez, a freshman at Stanford Univeristy, who uses Date Drop, a new dating app created by Henry Weng, a Stanford senior. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I’m a 19-year-old freshman at Stanford University. I wasn’t sure what to expect on campus — whether people would be actively dating or not. I have friends on both sides of the spectrum; some are more focused on school and friendships, and some are in relationships.

But I initially found Date Drop through my friends.

It was one of those week one things — everyone was getting to know each other, and we all decided it could be fun if we signed up together.

Date Drop has interesting dating app features

I’ve never been on a dating app like Hinge or Tinder, but I was surprised by the complexity of the questions that Date Drop asked. The questions on Date Drop were like: “What do you do for fun,” “What are you doing academically,” “Do you have any age, height, or ethnicity preferences,” and so on.

It also asked whether you preferred long-term or short-term relationships, and how many kids you wanted. It was very comprehensive. There was even an open-ended question asking me to describe my perfect date.

Anyone on campus can sign up — from freshmen to seniors to grad students. We have another similar platform on campus called Marriage Pact that matches once a year, but Date Drop matches weekly.

Also, if you want to get to know someone, you can enter their info, or if you want to try to match two people, you can influence the algorithm. For example, you can play matchmaker and enter the info for two people across the hall from each other that you want matched. It never tells you who has put you into Date Drop; it’ll say that someone has “shipped” you with someone else.

I got matched twice

The first time, I was matched with a friend of mine, which was fun. We treated it as a friend date and went out to get coffee at a coffee shop that was giving out free drinks to Date Drop dates.

I was matched a second time, but that person didn’t reach out, so it went nowhere.

After that, I had other stuff going on, like midterms that I needed to focus on, and Date Drop had kind of lost its novelty. Most of my friends had a similar experience.

I’d be open to doing it again

Stanford is smaller, so I think it’s easier to get to know people than it is at a state school. There’s more of a community, and the chances of you knowing a friend who knows your Date Drop or a friend of a friend are high. A lot of people have similar interests, which makes it easier to strike up a conversation than it might be at a bigger school.

Our generation has grown up on online platforms and sees them as a way to connect with others. It’s definitely a culture shift. I also think it’s not bad to try something new. You never know what’s going to happen, and I think a lot of us go into it with that mentality.

While I didn’t find a match, I’d be open to doing it again in the future. I do know a couple of Date Drop couples. I’d do it again if it were something my sophomore year dorm wanted to do together, as a way to get out there and meet people.




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Ayelet Sheffey

What to know about changes for parents taking out student loans for their kids

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Parents could see big student-loan changes in the new year.

Beginning July 1, 2026, the Department of Education will begin implementing President Donald Trump’s student-loan repayment overhaul, which he signed into law in his “big beautiful” spending legislation.

The overhaul includes new income-driven repayment plans and lower borrowing caps — including for the Parent PLUS program, which allowed parents to borrow up to the full cost of attendance for their kids’ educations. The department is planning to impose a $65,000 lifetime borrowing limit per dependent student, or $20,000 per year, which will limit parents’ ability to use federal financing to help send their children to college.

The new borrowing cap would apply to parents taking out new loans in 2026. Existing Parent PLUS borrowers who took out loans before July 1, 2026, can continue borrowing at their existing terms until 2028.

Additionally, parents who take out loans after July 1 will only have access to the standard repayment plan and will not be able to enroll in the new Repayment Assistance Plan, which the Department of Education is rolling out to replace existing income-driven repayment plans.

A September analysis from the Brookings Institution said that, based on data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey and the College Scorecard, 7.7% of undergrad students had parents who took out Parent PLUS loans at an average amount of $16,272 in the 2019-2020 school year. Higher-income families borrowed higher amounts: the analysis said that among families earning more than $130,000 annually, 46% took out more than $20,000 in Parent PLUS loans each year.

“However, these patterns mask a crucial insight: While lower-income families borrow smaller absolute amounts, they face significantly higher debt-to-income ratios,” the analysis said, meaning that the repayment burden tends to be greater for lower-income families despite borrowing at lower amounts.

Parent PLUS loans also tend to have the highest interest rates among federal student loans, currently standing at 8.94%. Still, the analysis said, they have several advantages, including access to more flexible repayment options and interest deductions on federal taxes.

The new limits could leave parents looking for alternative options to help pay for their kids’ educations, including turning to private lending, which tends to have higher interest rates with riskier terms. They come as the department is also eliminating the Grad PLUS loan program and placing new borrowing caps for graduate and professional students, with the goal of curbing excessive student-loan borrowing.




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