people like nancy kukay. kukay, who's divorced, took out about $46,000 in her name and co-signed for around $34,000 more with her son andrew, who graduated from the university of south carolina in 2008. >> i entered into that, now as i, in hindsight, without nearly enough information. and didn't know what i didn't know about-- financial aid. it's vastly different from when i went to school. i didn't have to borrow to go to school. >> reporter: kukay obtained about half of the $46,000 she borrowed for her son's education through a federal loan program called "parent plus." the number of parent plus borrowers has grown by 60% since 2005 to 3.5 million americans. the national consumer law center says some families can borrow more than they can afford under parent plus, because the program lets them borrow as much as a college says they need without verifying their income. >> at no point is the school or the federal government seeing if the family can afford to repay this loan. >> reporter: is anyone along the way