More Parents Seeking Student Loans For Grade School, Kindergarten

Student loan debts have recently exceeded $1 trillion dollars. But college tuition isn’t the only educational burden. A new study shows that more parents are taking out loans to make sure that their children can go to the best private grade schools and kindergartens.

Kristen Power, the northeast regional director for the National Association of Independent Schools, said:

“These loans aren’t as taboo as they once were — there are a lot more schools that are much more willing now to present a loan program as an affordability option.”

According to Smart Money, the amount of parents requesting loans for K-12 education has gone up 10% in the last year. Your Tuition Solution, one of the largest providers of pre-college loans, is expected to finance more than $20 million in loans during the 2012-2013 school year.

Dana Haddad, a private admissions consultant, said that parents are willing to put up with “outrageous” tuition prices because they “don’t want to put a price tag on their children’s future.”

The Huffington Post reports that tuition for private schools around the country have increased dramatically over the last 10 years. The median price for first grade at private schools has jumped over 35% over the last decade.

Ive League Colleges have only seen a 24% increase. According to Smart Money, the average cost of private school is nearly $22,000. The high cost of tuition is causing many parents to take out student loans, but it is also forcing some to abandon private schools altogether. The Department of Education estimates that their are 5.3 million students enrolled at a private school this year, which is down 11% from 2007.