re: student loan

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anyone know what is the normal payback period on student loans?

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10 years. But I would advise any student to look long & hard before assuming a major debt load (which I define as anything more than $10K over 4 years). It's a terrible idea to leave school owing the equivalent of a luxury car. It will limit his post-graduate choices, force him to chase higher paying jobs rather than following potentially more interesting career paths, and keep him in debt peonage during his 20s. Wouldn't he rather spend that decade embracing life rather than yoked to a debt?

With his parents' minimal income, he should receive substantial assistance from a private institution. It can be cheaper for a high achieving, mid-low income student to attend an out-of-state private than an in-state institution because of their generous financial aid packages. BUT, he's late in the game at this point (assuming he graduates in May). Unless he already applied for aid at the highly selective privates, he may have missed the boat.

Is he a first generation college student? If so, then you are doing him a wonderful service to guide him through this process.

But I urge you to seriously advise him to LIMIT his debt load. The 40K undergraduate debt means he will be less inclined to pursue grad education immediately after undergrad....and at this point, he has no idea what the future will hold. He might discover a burning desire to go to law school, or to get a PhD in history, etc.

What's wrong with 2 years at a comm college then a transfer to a highly selective private? Believe or not, highly selective privates LOVE transfer students. Inevitably, some of the folks admitted do not finish, and transfer students allow those schools to keep the tuition revenue stream at max potential in years 2-3-4.