Mom Who Never Went to College Stuck With $156K in Student Loans She Took Out for Her Kids: 'I Don't Get Rid of It Until 75'

Nansi Lynch, 60, who never went to college, is now on the verge of forfeiting her retirement after she took out federal Parent PLUS loans to help her two children pay for college. These loans carry the highest federal interest rates.

She is a high-school graduate and has worked as a school bus driver for nearly three decades, earning $45,000 annually. She also runs classes at a gym she co-owns with her son whenever time permits.

Now, with a student debt balance of $156,000 and a monthly debt payment of $238, Lynch had told Business Insider that she can't get rid of it until 75. 'I've never heard of something so disastrous in my life,' she had stated.

She had hoped to stop working within five years, but worries she will have to keep earning an income simply to make her student-loan payments.

She Took Out the Student Loans More Than a Decade Ago

Lynch took out the first student loan to help her daughter cover the costs at Salve Regina University, a private college in Rhode Island. Her PLUS debt balance grew in 2012, when she borrowed more to help pay for her son's education at Rhode Island College and a local community college a year later.

At the time, parents could borrow up to the full cost of attendance, rather than being subject to the $65,000-per-dependent lifetime cap introduced for new Parent PLUS borrowing under the Trump administration in July 2026.

Repaying the loans has proved difficult. Since Lynch works her primary job during the school year, she has put the loans into deferment during periods when she wasn't working. Interest on the outstanding balances continued to pile during those periods.

Lynch is now worried that her monthly payments could increase when her current forbearance ends early next year.

Lynch Has No Regrets Despite the Hardships

Lynch had told the media outlet she does not regret taking out the student loans, as she wanted her children to have better opportunities.

'We thought it was a good idea to take out the parent PLUS because we wanted our kids to get a better education and a better job,' she said.

Her son is now a personal trainer at the gym he co-owns with his mother, while her daughter works full-time in security operations for a federal contractor.

They are concerned about the debt and have offered to help, but Lynch does not want them to take on the burden when they have their own bills to pay. Instead, she would rather delay her retirement. 'But in the long run, I'm stuck with all of the student-loan debt,' she said.

The Whole Thing Is Broken, Lynch Says

The scale of the wider Parent PLUS debt problem has also grown considerably. Outstanding Parent PLUS debt balances increased from $62 billion in 2014 to nearly $110 billion in 2024, according to the Institute of Education Sciences.

Lynch believes the ability to borrow without a clear limit made it too easy for parents like her to take on more debt than they could afford.

'You can just keep on applying for more student loan money,' she said. 'What happens with that kid after four years? What happens if they can't get a job and the degree in their field of study?'

She has seen similar concerns among young people who visit the gym.

'I heard from the college kids at the gym all summer long that they couldn't find a job,' Lynch added. 'So you've got all these kids that have all this student-loan debt, and they can't get jobs to pay the bills. The whole thing is broken.'

For Lynch, the consequences are now personal. She took on the loans because she believed a college education would give her children a better future. But at 60, the cost of that decision is a retirement she can no longer confidently plan for.