I agree with everything @mom2collegekids is saying. I’ll add two points:
- The current price isn't actually what parents will end up paying. Tuition is going up much faster than the overall rate of inflation. A school that costs $62,000 now will probably cost $1000-2000 more each year. Unless @MaxedOutMom is sending her daughter to a school that guarantees the same tuition for all 4 years (and not many do), a cost of attendance that requires $21,000 in loans now may require about $25,000 for her D's junior year, and will certainly cost that much (or more) by the time she's a senior. $110,000 isn't much worse than $100,000 as far as loans are concerned, but only because $100,000 is already well above what's reasonable.
- During a gap year, OP's daughter can work and earn money towards college. If she doesn't move out, and works 30 hours a week for minimum wage, taking 6 or 7 weeks off, that's about $10,000 to help with bills and save for college, allowing OP and her D to borrow a more manageable sum for the first year of college. This in turn will reduce the amount of debt that's accumulating interest for 4 years, saving the family about $1.30 for every dollar in Parent PLUS loans they avoid in year 1. The D can also start putting money into an IRA, where its value will increase drastically in the next 40 years.
The best option is to apply to several schools that meet full need. If those schools aren’t reasonable bets for admission due to grades, test scores, etc. then the next-best alternative is to apply somewhere the daughter can get significant merit aid - enough to bring the family’s cost below $10,000. Generally, this will mean schools where the D is in the top 1-2% of applicants stats-wise, or those with automatic scholarships. Some turn their noses up at going to an “inferior” school, but that’s just silly - being a big fish in a small pond, while paying nothing or very little for the privilege, isn’t half bad.
In an ideal world, the family could afford the “dream” school (if that’s what the case at hand is), and this wouldn’t be an issue. In this situation, chasing merit aid or need-based $ is a necessity.