Great thread. I am at a client site, and so haven't really had a lot of time to read it thoroughly, but skimming the posts has resonated with me! I have a daughter in college and the financial burden these days on both parents and students is astonishing.
We have one ParentPlus loan for our daughter (first year fees/r&b) and we are paying the rest without loans. However, we have made her take out her stafford loans each year and she will graduate with about $23k in debt. Plus, we have told her she needs to help us pay back the ParentPlus loan.
Our younger daughter is 5 years away from college, and we are saving in a 529 plan currently. (Utah 529). We learned with our older daughter that going to a big name school is not always worth it. The costs are egregious and in all honesty, my personal opinion (and YMMV, of course) is that the big bucks are better spent on grad school rather than undergrad. So, with you young'un we will be more judicious in saying "no" to a big name/big price school unless she gets very good scholarships.
We have one ParentPlus loan for our daughter (first year fees/r&b) and we are paying the rest without loans. However, we have made her take out her stafford loans each year and she will graduate with about $23k in debt. Plus, we have told her she needs to help us pay back the ParentPlus loan.
Our younger daughter is 5 years away from college, and we are saving in a 529 plan currently. (Utah 529). We learned with our older daughter that going to a big name school is not always worth it. The costs are egregious and in all honesty, my personal opinion (and YMMV, of course) is that the big bucks are better spent on grad school rather than undergrad. So, with you young'un we will be more judicious in saying "no" to a big name/big price school unless she gets very good scholarships.