lookingforward:
It’s not ten years. Eg, if Child 2 is two years younger, PP loans for him/her have their own ten year clock. Now you’re talking 12 years of repayments/belt tightening. Etc.
And if you die, the PP loans aren’t truly wiped out. They can be cancelled, but the amount is reported on a 1099R and taxable. Please check this. Of course, you could up your life insurance to cover that.
PP loans are taken by an individual parent. Not both.
This may work out. Sure, maybe he picks the most truly affordable option (and the family is genuinely happy for him, no lingering chat about ‘too bad x wasn’t in our cost range.’) Or maybe some great merit aid comes through.
But real planning includes frank awareness of What Ifs. Put those in your spreadsheet, too. And awareness of a past and present tendency to self indulge. (No offense intended.) What happens down the road when you’re itching for an expensive family vacation, you need a car and find yourself thinking why a Ford won’t do, or whatever, but you’re x years into loans, possibly paying $1000/mo on loans? Or more, as kid 3 reaches college.
So really, rather than simply seeing this as the ultimate gift to a child, no matter the costs, yes, you can have solid conversations with the kids.
And ya know, Dave Ramsey would say sell the truck, buy used, put the 650 into these college costs.
All good points. We made the mistake(if you can call it that) of focusing on retirement savings first. Now we need to have the types of discussions we had hoped to avoid.