When I went to college in the late 70's, my parents paid a portion, I got a few small scholarships and worked every summer and part time through the school year

When I went to college in the late 70's, my parents paid a portion, I got a few small scholarships and worked every summer and part time through the school year. It was enough to pay for 4 years at a private university and then I spent two years elsewhere trying to get a masters, which at least was cheap as I worked as a graduate assistant. That is impossible today without either full scholarships or massive borrowing; the inflation of the cost of a 4 year degree from a private school from then to now wouldn't allow me to duplicate this any more. I spent 10 years volunteering at a local public university and most students had a similar experience (working, some help from parents, a few scholarships) although a few had to borrow a small bit of money. The difference of course is it was a public university which isn't as well regarded as mine, but in the end I bet the actual educational benefit was similar. Going to college is a great benefit socially and educationally but spending a fortune on it is only useful for a small set of careers (like go to Stanford for CS). I never used any of my 6 years of college studying Chemistry. But I never had to borrow to get my degree. Unless you are talking about medical school I can't see the benefit to going into massive debt just to get a degree.