debt loads

Melissa,
You're in the same boat we are. The first of our kids is off to college this fall. If we begin to take on debt with kid #1 for just the first year, what kind of debt load will the family as a whole have when the last child finishes up? And what if his career path requires graduate school next? Further, with more kids in college, there's not much help (even though you may be led to believe that having additional kids in college at the same time will change things). First of all, we won't have them *all* in an undergraduate college at the same time, but they will be there serially for 8 years. That's a long period of draining the family resources for that yearly EFC.

You may hear that there are "allowances" for having more than one child in college at the same time. This is a bit more deceptive than you might at first realize. I ran theoretical numbers on the College Board calculator with the scenario of 2 kids in college at the same time. What happens is that your total EFC stays the same. If it was $18,000 for one student, it becomes a total of $18,000 for the two students. I suppose the idea is for you to think that you are getting a break because it means you can think of this as paying $9,000 per child, instead of realizing you are still paying out $18,000 total. But your bottom line will remain the same.

Anyway, for me, the lesson is, ignore those all-too-common vague generalities about college costs and financial aid. Understand why there is the the glib ease with which all these institutions talk about, say, 80% of their students receiving "financial aid". Remember, for most middle class families, "financial aid" = loans. If you are a family which has practiced careful budgeting and conservative spending, you have the kind of credit rating which means you can qualify for loans any time. You have earned that credit rating---so a loan isn't some kind of lavish benefit some college has put together just for you.

An indebtedness package is not a gift or a prize - no matter how cleverly the phrasing is styled ("Here is your Financial Aid Award!!" in your "Financial Aid Offer!!" which you can "accept" or "decline".)

For anyone not yet starting the college application process, I suggest you do the numbers. Do the numbers for this year, and also for future scenarios which your particular family will face. It's an eye-opener, but a useful one if you want to look realistically at paying for college.