<p>Not to beat a dead cost but are your parents comfortable with paying the additional cost due to increases in tuition? For reference, I found this on the web:</p>
<p>2010 - $38,765 Tuition and Fees. 3.7% Annual Increase
2009 - $37,372 Tuition and Fees. 5.9% Annual Increase
2008 - $35,290 Tuition and Fees. 5.6% Annual Increase
2007 - $33,420 Tuition and Fees. 5.5% Annual Increase
2006 - $31,690 Tuition and Fees. 5.3% Annual Increase
2005 - $30,094 Tuition and Fees. 5.6% Annual Increase
2004 - $28,496 Tuition and Fees. 6.9% Annual Increase
2003 - $26,646 Tuition and Fees. 5% Annual Increase
2002 - $25,380 Tuition and Fees. 4.3% Annual Increase
2001 - $24,336 Tuition and Fees. 3.8% Annual Increase
2000 - $23,456 Tuition and Fees. 3.9% Annual Increase</p>
<p>So it’s reasonable to assume tuition will increase 5% plus a year. Room and board will also increase,</p>
<p>So if your parent contribution is constant;</p>
<p>year 1 8K in loans
year 2 8K+2
year 3 8K+2+2
year 4 8K+2+2+2</p>
<p>So just looking at tuition increase and not any taking anything else into account you will have 44K of debt plus accrued interest. That is low balling it. You will also need a co-signer. Are you comfortable with that? Due you plan on grad school? </p>