I am indigent, n disabled and my college student had to take out loans for college,?
Is there any kind of discount given or credit to lower the college loan payback for disabled or low income?
If these are Federal student loans, there are income based repayment programs. For info on income based repayment, see http://www.ibrinfo.org/
If these are Private student loans you are pretty much out of luck. This is one reason why Federal student loans are so much better than private student loans.
The other route – if the student is still in college – is for him or her to visit the college financial aid office. The “expected student contribution” often does not take into account special circumstances such as a parent who is disabled and/or unable to work. While the student is expected to work also to provide some of his or her “expected family contribution” the financial aid office might well lower the “expected family contribution” if there are extenuating family circumstances not well captured by the FAFSA.
If you are the parent, you would have to qualify based on your own income and credit worthiness to take out a PLUS loan (parent loans for undergraduate students). If the student took out the loans then the student, not you, is responsible for repayment of those loans. Your disability or low income status would not affect your child’s ability to repay.
If the student is the one who is disabled and he or she is unable to work because of his or her disability, and the loans were Federal student loans, then he or she should look into Federal loan forgivness programs for persons who are totally disabled.
In general, there is no particular program to lower or forgive student loan payments for students whose parents are disabled.
