[jim_greco]

You don't have to rack up student loan debt at MIT or any of the other elite colleges in America. If your family can't afford it then you'll get a ton of grants from their endowments (and work study to supplement). It's the next level down in colleges, especially at liberal arts schools, where students get stuck with the bills.

[jvrossb]

Two of my closest friends went $100k+ into debt during their MIT undergrad graduating in 2013/2014. Not everyone gets covered by financial aid.

[bradleyjg]

That your parents could theoretically afford to pay for college doesn't mean that they will pay for it. The usual rule is that parents are not obligated to pay anything for their children over the age of 18. Only in some divorce cases is the situation otherwise. Before you mention emancipation or a dependency override, check the requirements, they are quite difficult.

[pdiddy]

That may be the case now, but I graduated from Penn in 2006, and it was different story then (until about 2008 I think, with Princeton being the first to break the trend). Before that, a portion of your financial aid would be a loan directly from the school. My loan was subsequently sold to Citibank.

[s73v3r]

He has a $90k/year job. Working for two years should give him enough cushion for a couple years there.

[cma]

For obvious reasons, schools don't make a distinction between family can't afford it and family won't afford it.