Tulane is DS’s top choice and is an excellent fit for him academically, socially, culturally, etc. It will require him taking out 13k in loans annually (w/ me cosigning the difference above the federal limit). He’s also been accepted to LSU’s Honors College and can attend there for free. The ONLY reason he is considering LSU is because of the cost difference; other than that, he has no desire to attend, but being in the Honors College will make it more bearable. He’s a history/political science/philosophy type of kid who really doesn’t know what he wants to do career-wise, so that’s not really helping matters. I keep going back and forth in what I think is the right guidance for him, so I would love to hear other people’s thoughts. Thanks!
Tulane is a wonderful school My D went there and loved it. That said, I hesitate to encourage anyone to take more loans than what the student can get alone. I have only heard good things about LSU and think he can’t go wrong there. And, maybe a lot of right with less debt.
Cosigned loans or parent loans are generally not a good idea for the student or parent.
Are you already factoring in summer job and perhaps 10 hours a week working during the school year?
The loans you are anticipating are almost double the average student debt, although obviously in your case part of the debt would be the parent’s. If you are counting on your son to repay all the debt, I think that’s too much.
If you are OK with taking care of the debt above the student portion, that’s another story. Or are you already planning to pay for part of his education and can’t really afford some debt on top of that? The devil is in the details.
You speak of “guidance for him” but it’s for you too. When you cosign a loan, you are personally responsible for it. Don’t just assume your son will repay it, even with the best of intentions. All kinds of things could derail the best-laid plans. Don’t cosign anything you are not adequately prepared to pay back.
My DD and I have visited both schools. If this had been her choice I would struggle to talk her into LSU. Brain says LSU is a very goos school, great honors program, and lots of great oppertunities. Maybe even more oppertunities the Tulane because of size. Heart says Tulane is a name brand school, intimate professor relationships, grad school booster. I would hughly recommend this book for your DS before you decide. For my DD it was very influential.
www.amazon.com/Debt-Free-Outstanding-Education-Scholarships-Mooching/dp/1591842980
@alooknac, yes, I do expect my DS to repay whatever debt he incurs; however, I am in the position to assume it if necessary. I am doing the same with my oldest child who is a senior in college. Her situation is a bit different because she has very clear career goals and will have no problem paying back her loans. I will be covering DS room, board, books, etc.
co-signed loans = bad. Don’t do it.
Too heavy a debt burden for your D. Wonder if she could start at LSU honors and if still wanting Tulane, transfer for last two years. Kinda split the difference, if there is still good aid from Tulane. I suspect that she’ll end up liking LSU and may not consider transferring once ensconced in the life of a Tiger. Agree with #6 above: don’t do that much debt.
@northwesty and @jym626, I saw on another thread that your kids went to Tulane. How did you feel about their time there and the education they received? Worth the money spent?
My DS loved it. Met his fiancée there. Has a great job in Silicon Valley. We only spent about $12k/year for Tulane (thanks to the DHS and National Merit scholarships) for things like room/board, books, transportation, etc) So it was a great value and great ROI.
Fabulous deal!
Wow, that did make Tulane a tremendous value, @jym626! Congrats to your DS on his achievements!!
I am usually an anti-debt advocate. We live in Louisiana, so part of my concern about LSU is that I have seen first-hand the ongoing effects that state budget cuts have had on higher education. We have been hit among the worst in the nation, and this year is not shaping up to be any better. The problem is we probably won’t know to what extent until the summer, well after the May 1 deadline. Over the last several years, tuition and fees have drastically increased, programs have been cut, faculty have left and taken their research monies with them, buildings are in disrepair, the list goes on and on. Ugh 
Just my opinion, but I think a student taking on $52K (4 x 13K) in loans for an undergrad degree is far too much.
Have you run the repayment calculator and shared it with him? Shown him what rent is, a car payment, groceries? Most high school students do not have a frame of reference.
We have a PoliSci major (undergrad, state flagship) living in WashDC. She has an entry level government job & LOVES her life. She started out with a little savings and unpaid internships until she got the paying job.
She also has very little money left over after paying WashDC rent ($$$ for a “dump”!), buying groceries, trying to save a little, go out with friends, etc. And, she only borrowed ~$14K for undergrad, not $52K.
There may be something your son really wants to do when he graduates from Tulane that will not be possible due to the burden of that loan payment.
No debt is an opportunity, a gift, you just can’t see the details of what it entails yet.
Good luck with your decision. If you end up taking the money at LSU, try not to think of it as a consolation prize. It’s an amazing opportunity. Full rides are rare.
There are many ways to skin this cat. As you know, your student can only take out the Direct federal loans, so half of that $52k will be the student’s loans, and the other half will essentially be the parent loan (if they cosign). IF the parent is in the position to , say, take out a HELOC for the $27K, and the student repays their parent, them the parent gets the tax benefit (if there is one with the changes int he tax laws) and the student can pay the parent back whenever the parent wants, as whatever rate and at whatever interest rate, if any, the parent wants. IMO that loan plan ( $13k/yr) isn’t completely unreasonable. One financial guy’s rule of thumb is not to take out more it school loans than you expect to earn in your first job out of college. Presently, the average student debt is around $30K. Certainly, the ideal debt is zero, but I completely agree with with @rainh2o that, sadly LSU is in increasingly bad shape, and I wouldn’t encourage students to apply there.
@rainh2o - is your kiddo getting the Tulane Legislative Scholarship or any of the other Focus Louisiana Merit Scholarships? (or other merit award) ? IS the $13/k/yr loan the COA that you/your kiddo is to pay? For Tulane, that’s pretty good. That said, the average loan amount for Tulane is around $32K https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/tulane-university-of-louisiana/paying-for-college/student-loan-debt/
If your choices are Tulane or LSU, I’d pick Tulane if its affordable without too much financial repositioning.
As I said earlier, we paid !2k/yr for Tulane. We’d have easily paid $13K/yr. There were no loans. What is your OOP (EFC) for your kiddo to attend?
We are looking at Tulane for our daughter starting as a freshman next year. I was unpleasantly surprised at the total tuition + fees + room/board - over $70k, well above the amount in CC college search. Another reality check is to add in a 3-4% increase every year - Senior year might be > 80k. We also live in Louisiana and are not sure if the TOPS scholarship will even be around, based on our dysfunctional state government. I guess what I am saying is it may be worse than you think.
Well, one small consolation, @programmer765 - you can subtract some of the travel costs from that $70K figure. And, If you look at Tulane’s stats, the average net price is $32,500 https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Tulane&s=all&id=160755
I’d be hesitant to recommend LSU with all the budget cuts and it won’t be hospitable to a kid interested in Philosophy. My guess is that Tulane is a much better fit. An additional conundrum is there for Humanities majors prestige and resources matter more - if you have a CS degree and skills you can get hired from anywhere but a Humanities major from Tulane will have different opportunities than a major from Tulane. (LSU, even Honors, is in bad shape. Humanities majors aren’t likely to get support. The focus really is on ‘profitable’ majors and even they are suffering.)
So, while I’d normally be debt adverse, in this case I’d see this as an investment - kind of like; do you want the free car with a nice coat of paint but a wobbly steering wheel, breaks that may fail, and no seat belt, with a high likelihood it’ll break down on the way, or the too expensive car that will require you to take on a loan, but it’s got a five star safety rating?
(Yes, ideally, there’d be a nice compact car that you can afford without a loan but it’s not part of the question here).
Is your son the type of kid that can figure things out and go get it taken care of? Will he see these loans as his responsibility and be proactive about finding employment, including a 2nd job if necessary? Or is he the type that will be overwhelmed by it all and come looking for you for help in paying them? Could the right answer be that neither school is the right answer and he needs to figure something else out? Or could he figure something out in order to go to Tulane with fewer loans?
I know when my D went to Tulane she only accepted the subsidized loans. She worked her tail off working 20-25 hours a week during the school year at Reginelli’s and made good tips. She paid her own books, rent and food from the job. She maintained the required GPA for her scholarship, I forget which one it was but it wasn’t a full ride, it was roughly half tuition.
There are ways to do it if he has the right personality to do it. I’d be wary if he doesn’t. His majors are not necessarily ones that will bring in big bucks to be paying off tons of loans.
The only. full rides are the stamps and paul tulane
It’s not really a 50/50 situation. The student’s direct loans ($27k max) will be very different than the remaining $7500 per year. Student direct loans have a lower interest rate, repayment options that can be adjusted for income, some collection protections. The PLUS loan or private loan is just going to be an unsecured debt, with perhaps payments beginning immediately. It is unlikely the total debt can be combined for one payment after graduation without giving up the lower interest and repayment options of the direct loan, so that means a double payment every month, one to the direct student loan servicer, another to the private lender.
This shouldn’t be thought of as the student’s loan but the parent’s. Students can’t borrow more than the $27k in direct loans because it is very difficult for them to make payments above about $400 per month after graduation. The payment for the second loan, with a higher interest rate and maybe not a 10 year repayment term, may be $500+ per month.
My daughter is graduating and has to budget for an apartment, car payment, insurance, utilities, taxes, food, entertainment, and her student loan payment (about $200). I think it would be very hard for her to double that loan payment (if she’d taken out the max in direct loans) or quadruple it if she also had another $30k in private loans at a higher interest rate. My niece got her first job in Wash DC and only made it the first year because her parents paid her student loan payments. She got a nice raise her second year but took over her loan payments so isn’t that much ahead. She has no car, is still on her parents’ health insurance and cell phone, her father pays her internet bill as a gift, her mother sends her Amazon boxes of groceries and cleaning products. She still watches every penny. Her big splurge in life is that she has a cat.