Or even just in state colleges. I went to a large public school. It was a great school, but so are the big public flagships found at any state. I knew a lot of

Or even just in state colleges. I went to a large public school. It was a great school, but so are the big public flagships found at any state. I knew a lot of people who were out of state, taking loans, to do things like business or premed they could literally do wherever they came from for over half off tuition before you even account for financial aid or scholarships. CCs really aren't that much cheaper than in state rates for public schools, and you can even take certain classes at the local CC and transfer the credits over to the public school to save a little bit per credit hour and have somewhat inflated grades (plenty of people I know did this for their physics or math requirements over a summer). Another way to get free college is to just join the national guard program they have. A few friends did this as well. You do bootcamp which sucks, and like one weekend a month playing army in the woods during drill which I’m told also often sucks. But in the end you get free school and some pay. If you are used to doing hard work like manual labor, a weekend a month is not a bad deal. You can even land a job after through this experience and your degree e.g. in cybersecurity. There are options, obviously not as good as affording it outright but there are things you can do that aren’t going out of state on a huge loan, so I’m surprised why so many people opt to take routes that put them in the same exact place by their mid 20s but with a massive debt over their heads versus these seemingly less glamorous routes. Maybe the marketing of “leaving the parents nest” is just that good?