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Parent PLUS loans were created by Congress to give middle-class parents flexibility in how they pay for college. Today, they are increasingly used by low-income families. Among Black families who use Parent PLUS loan, the share with no expected family contribution now exceeds 40 percent, and the share among Latino families is also high, above 25 percent.
A report from The Century Foundation offers new research from a range of data sources to understand how Parent PLUS loans have morphed from a niche program for middle-class families into a driving cause of some of the worst outcomes for families who receive federal student loans, and especially for Black families. Read the report here.