This website has already discussed some of the ways that parents can help their children with student loans. And it is of course true that parents can have a major influence on how their children are impacted by student debt. However, many people might not realize that siblings can also help each other with student loans.
I am a triplet, and I have twin older brothers. We have all had to help each other throughout the years, since our mother died a while ago, and our father more recently passed away. My brothers and myself have all assisted one another with financial obligations, and this includes student loans.
One of the ways that siblings can help each other with student loans is with securing financial aid. Universities typically consider how many children in a family are enrolled in educational programs when making financial aid determinations. Indeed, when I entered college, three of my siblings were in school, and this helped contribute to the generous financial aid I received as an undergraduate. As such, if siblings decide to enter college or graduate school around the same time, siblings can help each other with student loans, since they can minimize the amount of money siblings need to borrow to earn their degrees.
Another way that siblings can help each other with student loans is by offering to cosign student debt. My brother, who is a guest writer on this website, has already written about how our other brother cosigned our student loans. Our father was unable to cosign our student debt due to financial difficulties he had, and we needed to look elsewhere for individuals who would be willing to cosign our student loans.
Even though our older brother was only in his early 20s, he still offered to cosign our student loans without batting an eye. This was a huge relief, since my brothers and myself were nervous about finding cosigners. Of course, there are many considerations that people must evaluate before they decide to cosign someone’s student loans, and this obligates a person to pay back student debt if the primary borrower is unable to do so. However, siblings can help each other with student loans by volunteering to cosign student debt.
Another way that siblings can help each other with student loans is by providing advice on the student loan process. My parents never borrowed student loans, so they could not offer me any advice on how to borrow student debt. However, one of my older brothers had experience borrowing student loans while he was in law school.
My older brother gave me valuable advice on how to borrow student debt. He told me about the applications that needed to be completed in order to be eligible for federal student loans, and also informed me about the process of securing private student loans. In households in which parents do not have recent experiences with student loans, older siblings can be a valuable resource.
In addition, siblings can help each other with student loans by supporting one another as siblings earn their degrees. While I was in school, I did not have parents upon which I could rely for a variety of reasons. However, my older brothers were extremely generous and helped me financially both while I was in school, and while I was living with student loans.
During breaks from college and law school, I did not have a fixed place to call home. I usually just crashed with my grandparents or one of my two brothers who lived in Florida. I naturally wanted to crash with my brothers in Florida whenever I could afford the cost of the flights, especially during winter vacations from school!
My brothers never charged me any money for the weeks that I crashed with them during winter and summer recesses from school. In addition, one of my older brothers owned a restaurant in Florida, and my brother would let me work there and earn some extra money on the side. I was also allowed to eat anything I wanted at that restaurant for free, which was a great benefit! It was a lot of fun crashing with my brothers, and this experience demonstrates that siblings can help each other with student loans, since they can financially support one another.
Siblings can also help each other with student loans by minimizing some of the issues that people experience because of student debt. For instance, it can sometimes be difficult to rent an apartment or lease a car if you have student loans. This is because companies typically look at your income and debt profile before deciding if you are financially capable of entering certain kinds of transactions.
During my student debt repayment saga, I lived with one of my brothers, who had worked a few jobs for several years prior to us living together. Even though I had a mountain of debt and wasn’t working when we signed our lease, I am sure that his background and the fact that his name was on our lease helped us secure an apartment. In any case, siblings can help each other with student loans by agreeing to cosign leases and putting their names on other documents to financially help their siblings.
All told, many people understand that parents can help their children with student loans, and this website has covered at length some of the things parents should keep in mind about student debt. However, as my own experiences demonstrate, it is also true that siblings can help each other with student loans.