Surviving on solely PLUS loans for law school and PhD?

[Guest]

Let me begin by saying how ridiculous it is that I have to post this to begin with. After only one undergraduate degree and one master's degree, I have already reached the total limit for Stafford loans ($138,500). I'm kind of embarrassed about this, but I suspect a lot of people are in this situation.

 

This has led me to wonder how on earth I would handle paying potentially for a PhD and / or law school. Assuming I don't get any scholarships or grants, is it possible to take out PLUS loans indefinitely for even another eight years of school? I realize they say there is no annual or aggregate limit besides the cost of attendance, but is that the case even after taking out PLUS loans for years in the long PhD process or in two programs like a PhD-JD program? Does it adversely effect credit assuming you pay everything on time and disable you from being able to qualify for future credit cards, car loans, mortgages?

 

There has to be some sort of disadvantage to PLUS loans besides a higher interest rate.

[rising_star]

Even if it doesn't affect your credit score, it would affect your ability to borrow money to get a car or mortgage because you'd have an absurdly high debt to income ratio. With the amount of loan debt you have, you'd probably be best served by waiting to pursue additional education until you have fully guaranteed funding that will cover your living expenses and tuition.

[AboveTheRim]

Credit cards and car loans.. I would say no, your student loans wouldn't affect your ability to get them. Student loan debt is viewed differently in your debt to income ratio by these lenders. HOWEVER, I would say that it would affect your mortgage approval rate, because those lenders take EVERYTHING into account.

 

But like rising_star said, I would wait, unless you have a guaranteed way of paying that debt off. And we all know there are no guarantees.