<prompt> Human: Recently a cousin of mine we will call him Greg enrolled in a 4-year state university with no way to pay for it. Greg had a small academic scholarship, no athletic scholarships walked-on to a team and was now solely relying on loans to make it through school. Now, he is receiving 1000yr athletic scholarship and has earned a 5000yr academic scholarship as he kept his grades above 3.0 and is in STEM field biology.Greg was able to save himself somewhat and will graduate around 50,000-55,000 of loan debt. This brings me to the rest of family: 3 more cousins are planning to enter college soon. None of them will receive any scholarship and want to attend the popular state school 30,000 totalyear. If they all go through with this they could in over 80K in debt when its over.I really dont want to see more people Im close to attending schools they cant afford with no plan to handle the debt. Ive been pushing that they attend a nearby community college to minimize the cost I pushed this with greg too but I dont think they care. Has anyone struggled with this before? How do you help people understand the magnitude of taking on that much debt? TLDR: Family members are about to attend college with no way to pay for it. How can I help?Assistant: Are they asking for your opinion?Human: Their parents wanted me to speak with them.  <response>: Their parents are the ones who should have been instilling the idea of financial responsibility into your cousins heads their entire life. So are the parents for or against it? Cause Im not sure what the point of bringing you in on it is. Do you have some unique viewpoint to offer?What is your goal when talking to them? Are you trying to change their minds about it? Do you have alternatives to suggest? Are you just trying to make them understand the magnitude of taking on debt? Are you trying to get them to understand how to apply for FAFSA? Are you encouraging them to find scholarships and grants? Do you want them to attend another school, or go to local community college? Are you encouraging them to find employment while attending school? Its hard to know what to suggest without knowing what your goal is when speaking to them.An amortization schedule is pretty good for getting across the debt message. Even though they are young, income vs expenses is not a hard concept. Ask them if they could afford to pay 400 a month right now. Then explain how taking on 80,000 in debt at 5 interest would require paying 400 month for almost 36 years to pay it back. Paying back in only 10 years would require more than double that payment 848.52. Student loan debt will subtract from your employment income for a looong time. 