10:11 PP here-

At 60k with northeastern, just because he likes it, I don't think that's a good choice.

Northeastern is one of those schools that I think is overprice and not worth it. Not that it's not a good place- I just wouldn't go in debt for it.

It really depends on how much. $5 for 4 years will be easy to pay off. If they are taking out close to 6 figures, no way!

Also depends on the school and what they are planning to major in. If they want to be a teacher or social worker, I wouldn't want them taking out any loans. If it is a STEM career, possibly. But it would have to be a great school for what they are choosing to study.

There's a difference between 5k and 15k a year. I graduated with about 20k in undergrad loans and the payment is about 180 a month. It was lower but I had to defer for awhile.

If I'd had 60k I'd likely feel different. But I loved my school and don't regret going there.

You also never know what aid hell get. I got very different scholarship options from different schools. If he's set on it, have him do some research. Please have it be more of a conversation than just "you can't have loans."

I think Northeastern has a good rep for job placement because of the coop program, fwiw.

I'm still a few years out from this, as I have a rising sophomore. Like you, I anticipate that we'll be able to afford a wide variety of options (in state, Canadian, some cheaper out of state schools, any school that "meets full need" ), but there will also be a large number of schools we can't afford to pay for completely. My thought right now is that I'll set a budget of what I can afford, and we'll look at schools within that budget. If we exhaust that list, and don't find something that feels right, then we'll expand our search, but my limit is federal student loans. I won't cosign for anything beyond that, as I think it's too much debt.