Those were the terms—or it would have been an even worse bet for the taxpayer funders. But with all thoae kids presumably in doubt I understand now where you’re coming from on this.
Wrong again.
Zero loans*, zero debts.
*= kiddo #3 was given a $5000 “merit award” which turned out to be a Stafford loan. Never applied, never signed papers. Took six months to get it off the books.
When your kid goes to college, on the first day, they “register” and run a gauntlet of sign-up tables: College Republicans, LGBTQ+, Rosa Luxemburg fan club, Harry Potter reader society, etc.
Some of these tables are signing up for loans. Believe me when I tell you - this is like those credit card applications you get in the mail - “You’re prequalified”, etc. A lot of them carry the title of “scholarships”.
I have never fallen into this trap - but the vision that people here have of kids signing up for loans sounds like you all think it’s like getting a mortgage with 96 pages of disclosures and a two hour close.
It’s not like that at all.
This is a racket that’s run for the benefit of colleges and especially the high-salaried, non-didactic administrative bureaucracy.