This study examined the use of private education loans at high-cost private colleges and universities. Responses were received from 100 of the 381 institutions who reported undergraduate tuition and fees, or professional school tuition and fees, of $14,000 or higher in 1996-1997. It was found that on most campuses private student loans play a small but growing role in financing higher education. Ninety percent of the respondents indicated that students received private loans because they had exceeded the annual loan limits allowed under federal student loan programs, and fifty-one percent of the respondents reported that students received the loans because the borrowers' parents were denied access to Federal Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students. It is concluded that many private loan borrowers will probably leave their institutions with very large cumulative student loan debts, and some may have trouble meeting the repayment obligations of both their private and federal student loans. (MDM)