Parents Would Dip into Retirement Savings, Go into Heavy Debt for College-Bound Kids

iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — In a perfect world, every parent would have enough money on hand to make sure that their children can get a college education. But that’s the kind of fairy tale that doesn’t even happen in the movies.

In reality, the average college loan debt is approaching $30,000 and some graduates are still paying it off well into their 20s and 30s while some never get out from under it.

With that in mind, the investment firm T. Rowe Price surveyed 2,000 parents who own a retirement account and have children ages 15 and younger to find out how far they’d go to keep crushing loan debt off the backs of their kids.

Children, you’ve got some good folks in your corner because 53 percent told T. Rowe Price they’d sooner take money out of their retirement accounts than put their youngsters in the position of taking out loans.

Meanwhile, almost half said they’d delay retirement in order to pay for their kids’ tuition while 51 percent would go as far as take a second job or work part-time to do the same.

When it comes to putting themselves in a financial hole, parents are basically saying “Bring it on!”

Nine percent claimed they would borrow “whatever it takes” to pay for the child’s college education while 55 percent said they’d borrow $25,000 or more and 23 percent would take on $75,000 or more in debt.

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