<p>Ok, I have to decide by tomorrow. What it comes down do is, we can pay for our local flagship, which is a fine school, with no loans.</p>
<p>Or we can borrow $50,000 (total over 4 years, not per year!) for my daughter to go to the LAC that is a perfect fit for her. She and I are not sure what to do. Better to go to the school you love or better to graduate debt-free so she's ready for graduate school? We would probably split the debt about 50/50 between her and us (so, about $25,000 each). This seems pretty reasonable, but I'm not sure. Income is about $150,000 - ish.</p>
<p>Daughter is majoring in bio, hoping to go into physical therapy or disease research (though things can change as we all know).</p>
<p>Any help from the financial wizards is much appreciated. I don't have much time!</p>
<p>I usually would say choose the more affordable option, but if our family had your income, I’d go for the 1st choice school.</p>
<p>That said, it all depends on how acclimated you’ve become to living up to that income level. Since we live on less than half that, for me it would mean oodles of extra money laying around. For you it may look very different.</p>
<p>Thanks for response, rentof2. In way of further explanation: We do live in an expensive area and also have two younger kids. If this was our only kid, well, we’d have the money and if it wasn’t lying around, there’d be no question about taking the loan. But with college prices continuing to rise, we need to keep a buffer for the next two.</p>
<p>for us, we agreed to pay for u/g and kids are on their own for grad school.</p>
<p>If i were in your shoes, I’d suggest, for my daughter (ESPECIALLY since it’s your oldest of 3) :</p>
<p>local flagship plus $25k from parents towards grad school</p>
<p>If she ends up not needing it for grad school, and you are in a financial position to do so, you can surprise her with a nice check when she is buying her first house.</p>
<p>Knowing graduate school is a possibility and that there are other kids waiting in the wings, I’d say go with the school that results in no debt. It would benefit both your daughter (no debt for undergrad) and your other children (undergrad debt not hanging over your head trying to pay for their schooling).</p>
<p>I like mtpaper’s suggestion of offering the $25k to help with grad school or, if not needed, towards a house if possible :)</p>
<p>Big fan of no debt. And I wouldn’t say a thing or make any promises about grad school. A lot can change in 4 years. Tuitions rise, incomes fluctuate, roofs need replacing . . . in 4 years, you may be doing all you can to juggle the needs of the other two heading for college. If you’re in a position to help her, great. But, if not, you haven’t promised anything. </p>
<p>Ours are on their own for anything after the first bachelor’s.</p>
<p>Around $25k over four years (federal student, not parent, loans) is a fairly standard amount of debt when receiving financial aid, just to put it in perspective.</p>
<p>Most would advise against a student taking on more than the Stafford loan limit which comes to $27k if the student borrows the maximum each year. What there is no consensus on (and there really can’t be given the difference in parental situations) is a limit for the parents. Only you know your situation. If you truly can’t handle $25k for the first child followed by $X for the second and $Y for the third, then that is your call.</p>
<p>There are a bunch of handy calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) One that might be particularly useful for your family is [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid)</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>
<p>Are you a family that believes that what you do for one child, you must do for another? If so, multiply your debt by three, thought I don’t know how close in age your children are.</p>
<p>At your income bracket, unless you have some outstanding financial concerns, I would spring for the LAC. Is your student taking on some of the responsibilities of the cost? She should be working a job(s) aggressively, and hopefully has saved some money for college. She should be borrowing (Staffords) as well and looking to work at college.</p>
<p>^Just one last caveat, thought perhaps you’ve already decided. My son received a phone call from a pal of his two days ago. Said pal had been attending an expensive-for-OOS flagship school at a cost of $50k/yr. Here he is at end of sophmore year, and his family has determined they can’t manage the expense, so he’s transferring to his state flagship. Kind of heartbreaking to see half way in, all those friends left behind, etc.</p>
<p>So, only you know your present stability and can guess at your future stability. If you, for example, couldn’t swing it on ONE salary, then don’t do it!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the input and advice! We did leave the final decision up to our daughter, with the offer of us taking half the loans (so it was good to know that $25,000 for her is within reasonable bounds and I was able to tell her that). She decided this morning that she would rather be debt-free, so her final decision is for the state flagship and no loans!</p>
<p>When I was in the same situation last year, I chose the perfect fit LAC for my daughter and don’t regret it. It really needs to be a family decision.</p>
<p>In our case our kids chose their schools, one an LAC and one a huge U. We retained veto power, but didn’t need to exercise it, whew!</p>
<p>* She decided this morning that she would rather be debt-free, so her final decision is for the state flagship and no loans! *</p>
<p>A much better choice considering that PT grad school will likely be a full-pay experience. Your D doesn’t need $25k in undergrad debt and another $75k+ debt for Physical Therapy grad school.</p>
<p>I know that to some people an income of $150k may seem like a lot, but when living in a pricey area and with younger kids to also consider, taking on $75k of parent debt ($25k each) along with paying for the equivalent of a state school for each year could easily be “too much”.</p>
<p>My D made a similar decision last year–turned down several pricier options for debt-free (in her case, w/ merit package from OOS flagship).</p>
<p>She hasn’t regretted it, and actually has felt surer and surer that she made the right choice. While she knows there would’ve been things she’d have liked about the small LACs she considered, there have been unexpected advantages to the big flagship. </p>
<p>And she LOVES the idea of debt free, able to afford study abroad, and graduate debt free.</p>
<p>We plan to help w/ grad school and/or starting out expenses after grad, which we could not have done if we’d gone the debt route.</p>
<p>And I sure sleep better at night!</p>
<p>Our D too made the same choice, not to take on the debt. I think that is a great lesson in itself!!!</p>
<p>I think that those with younger children to put thru college really have to think about this. No parent wants to tell the younger siblings that the parents overspent on Child #1’s college costs therefore there is less money for their college costs. </p>
<p>It’s hard for parents who are making payments on Parent Plus loans from Child #1’s expenses to then have enough current income to put towards Child #2’s and #3’s college costs…so more debt would be needed. And, of course, rising costs would also cause the need for more debt. The end result could easily mean $25k debt for Child #1, $35k debt for Child #2, and $45k debt for Child #3…that’s over $100k in college debt for parents earning $150k per year. That’s too much.</p>
<p>My last three kids going through the process, all chose different. One chose to go to state school, saving us a lot of money, and he didn’t have to pay a cent towards his costs. The next one went over budget and took on the additional cost because he so wanted to go to the LAC that was his first choice. He would have borrowed and was all set to do so, but got a reprieve with a last minute outside scholarship, additional merit money from the school and a high paying summer job. His second year, he, again was all set to borrow, but got a high paying job on campus. This year he had a grant, the job and was in an apartment which cut his food costs. Next year his housing costs will be even lower as he is going off campus. But he was over what we had given him as what we, the parents would pay.</p>
<p>This son immediately eliminated any school that was over what we would pay and will use his savings and summer earnings to pay for his incidental expenses. We will be pay for tuition, room and board. If the numbers go up, he is prepared to make up the difference. The Staffords are his buffer if he does not make enough during the summer to pay his share, but he is confident that there is plenty of leeway. He expects to live off campus after sophomore year and the housing costs would be reduced if he does so. </p>
<p>So there are many ways to look at the costs. But our figure includes any loans we may take and really have us right up to the limit. But for us, it is worth it and I wish we could pay more.</p>