The best types of loans, assuming you or your kids are not internationals, are federal student loans. Direct subsidized and direct unsubsidized loans. There are direct PLUS loans for parents, too, but again… sticking with the federal direct loans for students is the most prudent path. Here is a website that shows a comparison of the different types of loans and some of the features of them:
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/federal-vs-private
Most of the horror stories you hear about high amounts and/or situations where students are really in trouble with loans are when private loans were taken out.