I understand the emotion of it. But, your kids can borrow money to go to college. You can’t borrow money to retire and it’s a lot harder to borrow money if $life_happens to you as a parent especially for lower middle class families.

If you as a parent want to help your kids after they graduate to pay off their loans once your own situation is secure, help them pay for their loans out of a combination of current cash flows and savings you might have for it.

If $life_happens as a parent and the child can’t pay their student loans, they can get deferments, income based repayments etc.

If the parents don’t have savings because they were trying to avoid student loans and then they lose their jobs or are unable to work, then what?