<p>I don’t believe that a student should take on substantial debt and therefore the discussion is two fold…one is about kids incurring debt and another is about parents willing to send their kids to their school of choice who are willing to spend a lot in order to do so, even if the parent must pay it out over time. </p>
<p>For me, there are cultural implications. It never would have occurred to me for my kids to pay any of their educational expenses. We feel it is our responsibility to come up with a way to fund it. Education is very important in my cultural background as is the idea that parents and even grandparents, will make that happen and the next generation passes that onto their kids. </p>
<p>We did not use financial considerations in choosing a college. We applied for aid and had no idea what, if anything, we’d get. We would have sent our kids to the same colleges had they received no aid. We are very thankful for the generous aid they received and it was good, in part, as both were in college at the same time. I’m sure my life would be easier if I did not have to pay for this but this is the most important thing to us to pay for. </p>
<p>I understand if this is NOT possible for some parents to do. But a lot of posts on this thread are not about being able to pay for it but saying, “it is not worth it, go to the cheaper college.” If you cannot pay for it or pay back the loans, surely go to a cheaper college. But for some, IF they feel they can pay back the loans, even if it is difficult to do, it can be worth it and the cheaper college isn’t necessarily the best choice educationally for that student. I am not into the notion to save the money for something else instead. I get that some feel that way but not everyone does.</p>
<p>By the way, we never considered the choice of college in terms of which grad school our kids may or may not get into. One of our kids got a professional degree as an undergrad and so will not need grad school. Our other kid intended on grad school but we crossed that bridge when it came. It turned out she did get into many of the top grad school programs in her field. Most of her peers from college have also. I have no clue if that is due to where she went for undergrad and that was not a consideration in choosing her UG school. It has always been my belief that the student gets in, not the school from where she came. For that matter, my kids went to a rural public unknown high school and were still able to get into top colleges and programs.</p>