“A 40K EFC, including room and board + books, is a pretty sweet deal for a NESCAC (which I think is a more inclusive term than Little Three.)”
Depends on alternatives and resources. To me, UT-Austin tuition-free when the family doesn’t really have the resources for something a lot more (like the LAC) seems sweeter.
“And, Parent-plus loans are not that unusual for even the most well-heeled families.”
Doesn’t make the decision to take them any smarter. Plenty of people may have overleveraged to buy a house they really couldn’t afford before the '08-'09 crisis. Didn’t mean that was actually a smart decision.