The question of who should pay for college looms large over many families. It’s all too common for parents to be financially unable to save enough money for their kids to go to college, forcing them to either take out student loans or secure the best scholarship possible.

Some parents put the responsibility of paying for college solely on their kids, and that’s certainly one way of doing it. Other parents decide to take out a parent-PLUS loan in their name, so that they can take on some of the cost that they wish they could’ve paid for up-front. PLUS loans tend to carry a higher interest rate than federal student loans taken out by students themselves, so parents are more likely to spend more if they take out such a loan for their kids. Nothing is worse for interest rates than taking out private loans, so if a parent or college student can avoid doing that, they’ll be in a better position after the student graduates. If only college degrees weren’t so expensive, maybe people wouldn’t need to go into debt to pay for it.