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After decades of college costs outpacing inflation, colleges and universities are less likely to meet the full financial need of students. For families trying to fill this gap, the Federal Direct PLUS for parents (PLUS) has become an increasingly popular, but problematic, financing option. A new study sheds light on the issue, reporting that out of the study’s nearly 60,000 Parent PLUS borrowers, approximately 8 percent defaulted on their loans in the first seven years of repayment. Parents whose children attended Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) had somewhat worse repayment outcomes compared to parents whose children did not attend MSIs, the study notes.