<p>You should run NPCs for the schools that interest him and see what come up. ALso, if you contact CMU, and thell they often will run a preliminary estimate of what their full aid package would come to if your son should apply ED. CMU is a school that only guarantees to meet full need (as THEY define it) for ED students. </p>
<p>That gives you a very good idea of what it would likely cost to go there. As for student loans, if the shortfall is, say $25K a year AFTER student financial aid has been dispensed, there is a good chance that the aid package already includes the loans that the student can take. First year students can borrow $5500 a year, but often schools will take $3500 of it as subsidized and stick it in the aid package. I know CMU does this. </p>
<p>The next step would be PLUS which are the parent loans which a parent applies for. About 7% interest a year and it’s all on the parent. Student or parent dies, loan is forgiven. BUt it’s hardly a bargain. IF a parent gets turned down, student get to borrow $4K more as a freshman on top of the Direct student loan, hardly the $25K you are estimating he will need in loan procedes.</p>
<p>The other way to go is with co signed loans, and those generally have much more stringent terms than PLUS and not much better rates if better at all. In those the loans and responsibility are for both parent and student, and usually if anything happens to one party, it’s all on the other. That’s when you get those tear jerker stories of parents stuck paying the loan after their child dies. Can’t discharge these due to bankruptcy and repaystructuring terms tend to be harsh.</p>
<p>So if you really believe that this is something that will benefit your son and he’s gung ho, take out the PLUS and get a separate agreement from him to help you repay. I suggest you start repaying the loans immediately so that you can feel the impact of this debt and get a head start on them. By the time he graduates, you’ll have paid more than three years of the first year’s loan with just 7 more to go, and about a half year’s worth of the last one, so there will be 9 1/2 years to go on that That’s what we did, and boy, did we feel those payment. </p>
<p>Really, you are the adult here, and you can’t really expect a teenager to make a decision on this sort of thing in a rational matter. You decide if it’s affordable and worth while. Don’t put it on the head of an 18 year old. There is a good reason why no one will lend this kind of money to undergrads without a credit worthy co signer that they can go after if the kid reneges.</p>