In the US it -used- to be that kids who didn't have all the money they needed for school could -fairly easily- find a job or two to help themselves get through.

In the US it -used- to be that kids who didn't have all the money they needed for school could -fairly easily- find a job or two to help themselves get through. That was helped by the fact that public-school tuition was CHEAP. In the 60s at a major university you might pay $150 tuition PER QUARTER ($225/semester). Room and board at a university dormitory? $120/month. With maid service. Compare $500/year to $15,000 -- 33 times more costly -- and ask yourself what happened in the US to make education SO much more expensive (rent in that period has increased by a factor of 10 to 15) and why part-time jobs are either looked down on or so much harder to find. Add to that a willingness to go deeply into debt (without, it seems, much understanding of how dangerous that is) that would have been -unthinkable- at that time.