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<p>I don’t think this is such an unusual situation. Very few people have enough money in the bank to pay for four years of college. If you’ve got one year’s full cost saved (or a little more, as this family apparently had), you’re probably doing pretty well. Most people count on a big slice of current income, financial aid, and loans to cover the rest. The problem comes if your income shrinks or begins to look uncertain due to the possibility of a layoff, at the same time your home value, retirement savings, and other investments are taking a beating—and financial aid isn’t keeping pace with the deterioration in your financial situation. Then suddenly loans may become hard or impossible to come by; the wisdom of borrowing begins to look suspect; and the idea that deep financial sacrifices now can easily be made up later looks overly optimistic, or downright naive. That’s the situation many families find themselves in now, even if their household income continues to make them ineligible for need-based financial aid, or eligible only for a small amount of it. A school like Tufts might have looked affordable in a strong economy when their personal finances were riding high. It now looks like an expensive and unnecessary luxury now that their personal financial situation is so much worse, and appears so much more uncertain.</p>