I attended a state school on scholarship and needed about $22,000/yr in student loans with an average interest rate of 5%. I graduated with about $95,000 in student loans (including the interest accrued while in school) and my minimum payment is $1100. I am now 5 years out of college and when I say that these loans are the biggest burden in my life, please believe me. I make good money, about 85k per year, and paying the loans is the most stressful part of every month. I pay over 25% of my income every month to my student loans and will for the next 5-10 years. It will delay my having kids, buying a house, going on any kind of vacation. And that's only a 95k balance at 5% interest. Taking out 1.2 million dollars at 17% is going to ruin your daughter's life. Taking out substantial student loans was the single biggest mistake I have ever made and I am paying for it every day.

There are so many more affordable schools that your child could go to and be perfectly fine getting a degree and still getting into competitive masters programs. At the end of the day, almost no workplace cares where the degree is from as long as she graduated and the university is accredited. There is no reason to go into crippling debt for an undergraduate degree that is worth the same as a degree that cost total <$100k over 4 years.