Not all student loans are created equal.
Personally, I’d strongly encourage someone to take out the max they are eligible for in Stafford loans than borrow even $1000 via private loans.
With the government loans the parents are not responsible for repayment and their assets would not be at risk (PLUS loans of course are a different animal since those are parent loans and not student loans).
Even though very rarely dischargeable, the government loans have a wide variety of income based repayment plans (REPAYE is 300 payments at 10% of income and all borrowers of government loans are eligible), as well as a variety of deferment and forbearance plans for times of hardship. Private loans do not need to offer any such programs.
Not that anyone wants to consider it, but government loans are erased when the borrower is deceased.
Private student loans are rarely if ever a good idea.