As if student loans aren’t taking enough ofa toll on the younger generation — those actually heading for thehalls of higher learning — their parents might also be in hock upto their eyeballs before the kids collect those very expensivesheepskins.

That’s because 60 percent of U.S. parents say they’re willing togo into debt to pay for their kids’ college education — and that’swith 58 percent of parents saying that doing so makes it tougher tokeep up with all their other financial obligations.

The Foundations for the Future report, latest in its Value ofEducation series from HSBC Group, found that most parents wouldcompromise their own financial well-being in order to finance theirchildren’s higher education.

It’s already common knowledge that student loan debt isendangering the retirement ofmillennials, who are paying off those loans at the expense of theirown retirement savings. Workers laboring under heavy loans, oftenat smaller-than-hoped-for salaries, are finding it tough to meetall their obligations, and are postponing such major life events asbuying a home and gettingmarried.

Yet parents are actually considering taking on that debt to helptheir kids — although younger parents (under age 34) are morewilling, at 74 percent, than older ones (over age 35), at 56percent.

Nearly all U.S. parents — 98 percent — are considering a collegeeducation for their child. But where they’ll find the money to doit is the challenge, particularly since 58 percent of parents saythat paying for their child’s education makes it harder to keep upwith other financial commitments. Still, they consider this expensemore important than long-term savings (40 percent), credit cardrepayment (37 percent), and retirement savings (37 percent).

And good luck to them; they’ll need it, since U.S. parentssurveyed spend an average of $14,678 a year to fund a child’scollege education — almost double that of the world average of$7,631.