<p>thumper1: there are non-government student loans available, like from banks. That’s how a student’s loan toal can reach $18,000. Plus the Parent Plus loan from the government.</p>
<p>Gun…wouldn’t the parents need to cosign those loans?</p>
<p>The OP did say they have funds sufficient to limit the student’s first-year debt to $5,500 limit. But the outside scholarship they’d need to make that happen is “iffy” and, unless I missed something, the OP did not indicate whether it was for one year only, or all four years.</p>
<p>Without that scholarship, the student’s debt level could well exceed the limit for federal student loans . . . at which point the OP is going to be co-signing for her student’s private loans. Not a good situation.</p>
<p>I’ve seen Perkins as high as $5K which surprised me greatly as that brings the loan possibility for a freshman up to over $10K. Then there is the $4K a freshman can get if the parent is denied by PLUS. Also some colleges do have their own loan funds where they will give the student loans. Cornell does this.</p>
<p>Re-reading the OP, it appears that the package is $18K including $12,500 in PLUS, which leaves the $5500 in Staffords. I think the OP has a good understanding of the implications and possibilities in all of this.</p>
<p>We are having the same issue. DD wants to go to a private Christian school due to her future career choices. We found several that were affordable with merit aid. Well the costs of several of these schools went up about 10% this year- which puts them at significantly more money for next year- and even more for the following years. Unfortunately, the merit aid stayed the same leaving us to absorb the entire cost increase. This means that dd will have to borrow more then we were planning on or work to save more money.</p>
<p>DD could go to the state flagship with no loans if she could earn $2,000 a year from working. Or she could not work and graduate with less than $10k of loans. The state flagship has also said that they will freeze tuition for the last 2 years as long as students are on target to graduate in 4 years. This would save even more money in tuition!</p>
<p>It’s a tough decision, but we have told her that we can only pay X because we have to have money left for her sibling.</p>
<p>There is absolutely nothing wrong with parents deciding that they will only pay X, and telling their kids that they will not allow them to borrow more than Y. In fact, this is responsible parenting. Too often, parents feel like they are doing something wrong when they set those parameters … when, in fact, they are doing something very right. I applaud parents who are upfront & honest with their kids about the amount of money available for college.</p>
<p>Parent Plus loan is solely on the parent(s) applying. The application includes a credit check like any other private loan.
I would guess a student would need a co-signer for a private loan from a bank.</p>