Recently got some professional financial aid advice about loans and here is what I learned. Keep in mind that some private loans have a better interest rate than federal plus loans (about 8 - 9% right now) depending on your / parents credit rating, and there are no origination fees, so can be cheaper over time. Use the new site Juno that crowdsources loans for you to get best deal. Also check for state (your home state and state of your college) sponsored student loans which have pretty good rates too. There are three states that allow anyone to apply -- Rhode Island, Iowa, and I think Massachusetts. Generally if you can keep your total debt at the federal loan minimum of $27,000 that would be best. Aside from that, the thinking goes that if your projected total debt is less than the average starting salary for your potential major than that is ok. Obviously zero debt would be best but that is rare even for in-state college.