When families talk about paying for college, the conversation often turns to borrowing. Many parents believe, “We’ll just take the loans and figure it out later.” Loans are easy to get and everyone seems to use them. But what if I told you that this mindset, seeing loans as the default plan, sets up more students for financial ruin than anything else?
The problem with student loans is not only the debt itself, but how simple and painless borrowing feels in the moment. As I write in Creative College Funding:
“With nothing needed but a signature, a student can borrow tens of thousands of dollars. Since access to money is so easy, students don’t pay close attention to costs. The process for borrowing to attend a community college is the exact same process as borrowing for an expensive private university”
That ease makes students and parents emotional buyers. Colleges encourage you to “shop with your heart” and fall in love with a campus. When the bill comes, loans step in to cover the gap. There is no immediate friction, no pause to calculate what four years of borrowing will really mean.
And once you are in? Student loans are not like other kinds of debt. Guaranteed student loans, unlike private loans, are backed by the government and are not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
You cannot walk away from them. Even worse, most borrowers restructure their loans to lower payments or delay repayment, stretching a 10-year loan into 17 years or more. Interest and fees pile on, leaving many people paying back far more than they borrowed. As I point out:
“This ‘help’ often results in loan balances higher than the original amount, even after years of faithful repayment. There are 2.8 million Americans over the age of 60 still paying student loans.”
So what is the real answer? It starts with a mindset shift. Borrowing is not your plan. It is your back-up when you do not have one.
“Here’s the truth: you can borrow all of it… your tuition, your housing, your books, your fees, your car, your computer, your pizza, and your beer… but simply signing your name isn’t very calculated, resourceful, or determined” (p. 12)
- Outstanding student loan debt in the U.S. is about $1.7 trillion (Federal Reserve, 2024).
- About 43.5 million borrowers currently owe student loans (Department of Education, 2024).
- The average federal student loan balance is $37,088 per borrower (Education Data Initiative, 2024).
- The average monthly student loan payment is $337 (Federal Reserve, 2023).
- One in five adults with student loans is behind on payments (Federal Reserve, 2023).
- Borrowers often take 20 years on average to repay student loans.
Instead of defaulting to loans, you can adopt what I call calculated, resourceful, and determined planning. That means working hard, stacking low-cost credits, leveraging guaranteed scholarships, and exploring programs that cut costs in half or more. It is not about luck or waiting for a miracle. It is about changing the way you think about funding from “borrow now, worry later” to “plan creatively, save now.”
Nearly 1 in 10 borrowers default within their first three years of repayment, usually because their debt exceeds their income. (DOE, 2022).
Encouragement and Next Steps
If you are worried about college costs, do not fall into the trap of thinking loans are inevitable. Borrowing is a choice, not a requirement. With creativity and determination, you can build a plan that avoids debt completely.
If you’d like to learn a smarter way to pay for your education, my new book, Creative College Funding: How Smart Homeschooling Families Get Through College Without Debt, is dedicated to this topic!
I’ve always been willing to find creative ways to get through college without debt, and my family is on degree #14 without debt. You can do this too!
