<p>The only loans you can take on without a co-signer are the ones that you qualify for by filing the FAFSA. So for most students, this means that you are effectively limited to the Stafford Loan maximums of $5,500 Freshman, $6,500 Sophomore, $7,500 Junior and $7,500 Senior. If you are thinking of taking on more debt than that, you had better start lining up your co-signers now. Be sure that they are in a position to be able to continue to borrow each year, or you might have to leave the expensive school half-way through your program.</p>
<p>There are a bunch of nifty calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) that you can use to evaluate your financial aid packages, and to estimate how much money you will need to earn in order to pay down a given amount of debt. Run a couple of them using various scenarios, and see what you think. Here is my favorite calculator: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid)</p>
<p>Please remember that if you are good enough to get into Carnegie Mellon, chances are that you are good enough to get a whomping big scholarship somewhere else that could make your education possible without any debt whatsoever.</p>