<p>I don't want to make broad statements, just personal experience. Both my D and I transfered from schools whcih were poor fit academically, she from a U to a LAC, me the other way around. Both found a general academic vigor in the m ore selective school.. Both times was a financial stretch, but I believe worth it.</p>
<p>pyewacket & garland: I agree. A school with great fit is a sublime experience & is worth paying for.</p>
<p>I am also a single parent, whose child support has now ended. Like you, I did not stint on education or extras, choosing to maximize my son's opportunities as a top priority. </p>
<p>I encouraged him to apply for merit scholarships and he got a lot of large ones at good schools, but when he finallly sat down to discuss his choice, he expressed that it was most important to be in an environment where he would be both supported and pushed intellectually as much as possible. Since his choice was perfect in that respect, and the fit was excellent, I agreed to raise my previous limit of financial support to enable him to attend. </p>
<p>I made some of it his responsiblity, and told him that he would be on his own for graduate school (minus car insurance and some help with living expenses). He will use all of his college accounts and be working during term breaks and in the summer for the next three years, and it will be mandatory for him to get a fellowship, TA, or RA for graduate/professional school.</p>
<p>As Tevya said "If I bend that far I will break!" You have to know what your personal breaking point is and take care to avoid reaching it. </p>
<p>In my opinion, our economy is headed south, and its current rate of slide may become a steep slope. It would be preferable to conserve, make careful and sound investments, and not over-extend. It's not great timing for CCers that many of us will be paying hefty amounts for college tuition at this time - we would of course rather be making easy progress towards a very comfortable retirement instead of swimming against a current, but that's the reality. The yardstick I use for myself is that I will not use home equity or take loans - my share will come from savings outside of retirement accounts and from monthly ordinary income.</p>
<p>You can not borrow for your retirement but you can borrow for your education - over 60% of the babyboomers believe they should pay for their childrens education and as a result put themselves into a financial bind as they get closer to retirement age!</p>
<p>Federal student loans (Stafford, PLUS and Consolidation) are there to be a help not a hinderance - if you need them use them but as with everything else you need to make informed, solid decisions about what you are doing.</p>
<p>There are just so many deals out there where you can get extra benefits for using certain lender programs that it is worth looking into these loans IF YOU NEED THEM!</p>
<p>My suggestion is always look for a non-profit lender in your state as your first choice - check out what they have to offer and then if you want to check out other for-profit lenders see what their programs look like.</p>