We also paid for the undergrad educations for our kids. We did ask them to take a small Direct Loan which just helped our cash flow. Their graduation gift was the payoff of these loans. We also paid the interest each year so they were subsidized by us.
The nice thing about the direct loan…you don’t have to accept it at the start of the academic year. You can ask for it later in the academic year if needed. You just can’t carry the loan amount for one year from one academic year to the next.