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Anyone can take out an education loan. There are federal loans, state funded loans, and even private loans through banks that are available to students. The question becomes, who should be signing their name on the line? Mom and Dad, or the barely legal student-to-be? While it may seem hard to believe, it is actually quite easy for a student to take out a loan without Mom/Dad's help. The banks/lenders want it to be easy, because students just entering college don't understand terms like "fixed/variable interest rates", "disbursement fees", and "interest payments vs principal payments", and will sign up without fully researching the loan process. This is how students can get themselves in trouble and why parents are wary of letting their children take control of the education costs. But should youthful naivety be the deciding factor in who gets stuck with the debt?

There are pros and cons in both situations. If the children take on the financial burden of higher education alone, they will find they can benefit; not financially, obviously, but it can prepare them for the working world and give them a firmer grasp on the importance of financial responsibility. If they are responsible for filing their financial aid forms, applying for scholarships, and taking out loans (with or without their parents' help) they may obtain an appreciation and respect for the financial investment that is their education. They will be forced to consider what they will be capable of paying after they graduate. This also means they will be less likely to sleep through class, to study hard (especially when merit scholarships are involved), and will carry with them through their four years the weight of their decision and will not take it lightly, knowing full well what their education will cost them once they've graduated and the grace period is over.

Of course, this may not be the case with all students. They may frivolously sign on the line, haphazardly fill out their FAFSA, ignore scholarship deadlines, and head off to school without giving the seriousness of their financial obligations a second thought. They just want to move away from home and be independent (a.k.a. party). This puts them in a situation no parent wants to see their child in: they graduate, hopefully get a job and may celebrate for six months thinking they are in the clear, and then their grace period ends. Their first loan statements arrive in the mail: they panic, call their private loan

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