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Every year I have athletes who want to play sports in college, most are D3 players who are recruited by small private schools, though not all are liberal arts. Many of these places are 40K+ and while the kid get financial aid, its not enough so they need 10K plus in loans a year and they might not even have the major the kid really wants. I always go through the process with them that is it worth the difference in cost to play D3 lax, football, basketball, etc vs going to a state school and play club ball or community college to play for a couple years. Im not saying to not play the sports, there is something said for being on a team and you'll remember those guys for the rest of your life, but it's not always worth it.

I have the same discussion with my wife. She went to Mount St. Mary's where tuition is ridiculous, and I went to PSU. She paid 3 times the amount of tuition, but we ended up at the same exact accounting firm making the same amount of money right out of college. I understand she loved her college experience, but I'm definitely more of a numbers guy. The ROI on that just doesn't make sense to me. My point was, even if you go to PSU with in-state tuition, you are paying close to $20K just in tuition. If you are relying on loans for everything, you may be close to $100K in debt when you get out.