Undergraduate students are limited in the amount of student loans they can take out personally (about $7,500 first year and $5,500 each year after). Any loans over that would be loans to the PARENTS – so it would not be your kids who “take out massive student loans and…be in the hole for most of their life” but you, if they choose universities requiring big loans. The best advice is to choose the most affordable universities in California with in-state tuition, or programs in states that give reciprocity for in-state tuition rates – see http://www.wiche.edu/states). Another option is to attend a university in Europe or some other country where tuition is free or nominal, and you just pay for room and board (and flights). You can search for EU programs here: https://www.bachelorsportal.com/. Some of the biggest academic scholarships are offered by universities themselves, but you have to research which universities offer them. Some offer guaranteed scholarships for a certain combination of SAT score and GPA. To see how that works, look at the scholarship grid at the University of Alabama-Huntsville: https://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships/merit-tuition-scholarships