In the next several months, high school seniors all across the United States will get a warm and fuzzy feeling in their young tummies once they receive an acceptance letter from their dream school. They will be in complete bliss, trying their hardest to fight senioritis and enjoy the last few months with people they’ve been friends with since elementary school.

Then comes the tuition bill.

Feelings quickly change. Parents, though they don’t put aside their pride and excitement for their scholar, begin reconsidering. Students strategize on how to not let their lack of money prevent them from going to a school and experiencing a new life they feel they deserve.

For many, this means resorting to private loan and oftentimes, students don’t take out a loan by themselves. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 90 percent of private lending companies require a co-signer. And to qualify for a loan, the parent or co-signer must have good credit. Co-signing requires that if the students don’t pay, the parents have to.

Is this right? Must parents or grandparents have to co-sign? I know they want to, and I understand they feel obligated to, but should they? I don’t think so. College students are adults and should pay for their own tuition if it is absolutely necessary.

This is how I understand the mentality behind all of this: parents, or whoever co-signs, want their child to be happy and have a great educational experience. They trust that their young scholar will work just as hard in college, if not harder, as he or she did in high school. Thereafter, the scholar will move on to get an amazing job that will pay off the private loan. The student, with their determination and puppy dog eyes ensure the co-signer/loved one that they are ready to put all that they can into their career. Both parties are convinced, and so they sign. End of story.  Maybe.

However, for most, the story does not end there. In this economy, it is harder for graduates to find jobs that will do more than pay the essential bills such as rent and electricity. Graduates are unable to pay for their loans and the co-signer is faced with having to pay the loan alone, leaving both in a rut.

I don’t think I would have decided on Fordham if I’d been faced with taking out private loans. I was told before I filled out applications to not get too attached to very expensive schools. My mom made me read The New York Times’ articles about students who graduate from NYU (the fourth least affordable post-secondary school in the nation according to Newsweek) with massive amounts of debt on their shoulders and low-paying jobs.

My mother and I thoroughly explored the what-ifs. What if I don’t get an amazing job? What if my mom gets laid off?

To save both of us in the long run we concluded that if I want to go to a particular college, I can, so long as I am willing to take on the responsibility of the debt. Choosing which school I go to will be my decision, and so how much debt I choose to incur will also be my own.

I was taught that college is what you make it no matter where you go. When co-signing, you are playing with both you and your loved ones’ financial stability.

Yes, I felt the great feeling in my stomach, but I also understood my other, more debt free options, were great, as well. I knew the burden it would bear on my mom. I had to knock the butterflies and think clearly, which is hard to do.

So long as there is a complete understanding of the risks and students can think beyond : “I need this at all costs” and parents “I want to give my student all she deserves,” co-signing should not be mandatory.