"Federal data shows households nationwide are increasingly being burdened with college debt, but the load among Western New York families isn't quite as bad as in some other areas," Buffalo Business Journal reports. 

"The Parent Plus program, which allows parents to borrow money from the federal government to pay their children's tuition, has reported a 42% increase in dollars owed over the past five years. It topped out at $100.8 billion owed by 3.6 million families this year, according to data released this month under revised Department of Education guidelines.

Parent Plus loans originated in the 1980s and are contingent upon a credit check. Originally capped, any limits were removed to improve families' ability to send their children to college, said Karen McCarthy, director of policy analysis for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators."

..."'It just doesn't seem right to us to continue to allow families to just take on more and more debt that we know they're going to struggle with,' McCarthy said."

NASFAA's "Notable Headlines" section highlights media coverage of financial aid to help members stay up to date with the latest news. Articles included under the notable headlines section are not written by NASFAA, but rather by external sources. Inclusion in Today's News does not imply endorsement of the material or guarantee the accuracy of information presented.

Publication Date: 12/29/2020