<p>I need a “like” button for your post, romanigypsyeyes!</p>
<p>I’m going to assume the post is a legitimite pondering. My response, is not a chance we would take out an $80,000 loan let alone pay it over thirty years. There isn’t that much added value to an undergraduate degree from any university worth that in our opinion. Would we finance a home for one of the kids for $80,000…maybe. An undergraduate degree, never.</p>
<p>Aren’t they called STUDENT loans, not PARENT loans?</p>
<p>^^Only $30,000 or so worth of potential loans :-)</p>
<p>This post makes me very thankful for the kids I have. Guess I must have done something right after all.</p>
<p>Is the OP a student or a parent? Honestly he/she is handing out tons of advice on other threads. In those sounds like a parent…but this OP…sounds juvenile.</p>
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<p>To give the OP the benefit of the doubt, I’m not going to call ■■■■■ per but rather to suggest that OP might well be speaking ironically - that he/she actually believes the opposite of the face value of the statements in the post.</p>
<p>wow. just wow.</p>
<p>Let’s make this very simple. I don’t have the time to pay off a 30 year loan when my youngest enters college, I’ll be 62. </p>
<p>This has to be the most inane and insensitive post.</p>
<p>Have you learned NOTHING here?</p>
<p>Come on OP…we are all dying to hear more of your arguments on this topic!</p>
<p>I am quite serious, not speaking ironically. My premise is that there is great value added by attending a selective school. I notice a big difference in general student and faculty “mentality” between the very selective schools and average schools. The quality of the student body makes a big difference. I also recognize the effect on confidence, self=esteem, and general happiness when you attend the “school of your dreams”.</p>
<p>The 80K over 30 years is actually a worst case scenario but even $340 per month is only about two-thirds of one percent of the monthly income from an annual take-home salary of $60k. It would still leave $4660 per month to pay bills and recreation. You almost certainly wouldn’t miss it. The total interest on such a worst-case loan would be about $40K or $1,300 per year. Is the extra $1300 per year worth it? I think so.</p>
<p>But, as I said, this would be a worst-case scenario. The average net price per year after financial aid at the top 70 LACs and universities is about $12,200 for families with incomes in the $48K to $75K range. Loans of $10K per year would probably cover the EFC, total of $40K. I define “top 70” as those with SAT CR 25th percentile over 600.</p>
<p>By the way, this average net price for selective private schools is actually about $1500 less than the average net price for 300 “mediocre” publics with SAT CR 25th percentile between 400 and 550 which leads me to wonder how many parents fail to consider selective privates because of the same knee-jerk tunnel vision (mixing metaphors) demonstrated by posters in this thread.</p>
<p>By the way, you should work until you are 70 to maximize your social security payments and, when working past full retirement age, your income from your job will not affect your social security payment.</p>
<p>Many parents “know the price of everything but the value of nothing”.</p>
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<p>In your opinion… nicht wahr?</p>
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<p>Not every one has that option for many different reasons. </p>
<p>If you want to take out loans for your own kids, that’s just fine and dandy… but I think it’s pretty crappy (to say the least) to demean parents who don’t make that choice. </p>
<p>You’d be amazed at just how well people do from non-elite schools 
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<p>The idea of a dream school is such a load of you-know-what for the vast majority of students.</p>
<p>^^Yes, true. haha
So far, I have no allies. ha</p>
<p>Not everyone lives in a state with great public universities like California, Michigan, Virginia.</p>
<p>OP, u make the argument that a more expensive college is a better educational investment. But why do u think it is the PARENT who should take out the loan, rather than the student-- other then the obvious fact it is always desirable to spend OPM (other people’s money)?</p>
<p>OP…Please print off your posts, save them, and show them to your children someday. LOL…that will be a fun one!!!</p>
<p>I suspect the OP is a part of the entitled Y generation. “Why me?” and “I am entitled.”</p>
<p>Go for it. Just don’t mock others who may be more cautious or prioritize family needs, not just Junior’s wants. </p>
<p>It doesn’t matter what the average net price is-- it matters what an individual family’s cost is. To get down to 12k FC, (ie, to be at that low income and low assets level,) I’m not sure a family could sustain that sort of debt payment for that long-- IF they could qualify for that amount of loan, over 4 years.<br>
And, it looks like the loans they could get would be the Parent Plus- even if it were at 3%, the payment would be over $750/month for 10 years (for 80k.) Not even considering how it amortizes.</p>
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I know I’ll be doing this!</p>