That's why with my kids, both of which went to private universities, and my wife, who earned two advanced nursing degrees, we paid what little was owed out of pocket, so to speak, after the scholarships were applied. What we borrowed was through a home equity loan for which a tax deduction could be taken and received the max in education credits while they were in school which lowered the amount that had to be borrowed. While we owed some for their school, neither child was going to be strapped with student loans unlike one on this forum that admitted he's still paying for his school 22 years later.