It's just a completely different culture. Economics AND social structure are completely different.

So for my father (single parent, mother committed suicide) to pay for both of his children to go to college at the same time (one year apart) was simply impossible -- that would be 7,620,600 rupees a year, four for me, five for my brother. He also had to pay his own expenses, like his mortgage and car payments (on both our cars as well). You cannot live in the city I live in without a car. You will not be hired, and there is no public transport.

COULD he have saved up for it? Honestly, no. I don't think we could have lived a healthy life if he had. He only paid off his own student loans when I was in high school. Had his parents paid for his college, then would he have been able to? Maybe? I'm not sure it was feasible for them, very, very poor disenfranchised immigrants to have that kind of money either. His mother was attending college for the first time when he was, and his father went bankrupt. You have to look at the different histories of families, many of whom that kind of expense just isn't feasible for.

College in America is set up so that you have to take out loans. It's intended by the system. You came from another country where there is another focus, and you are lucky your economics didn't rely on that. I have to assume, however, if you are able to study internationally that your family doesn't have the average income/assets of a family in India.

Lastly, there are different social values. So in many of the cultures you are talking about, there's a hierarchy of age -- and eventually the younger generations are expected to take care of the elderly, right? That's not necessarily true in America, it's a different value system. I understand that might be an offensive concept to you, but there's a very strong focus on independence and making it on your own. I'm 23 and live with my father and I am seen as pathetic by a lot of people. I'm sure when my father gets old I will hope to get him the best care possible, but it probably won't be feasible for ME to take care of him by myself. And should I get married, I can imagine my spouse would be opposed to the idea of him living with us because it would be seen as a very weird and stressful arrangement in the USA -- especially if we each had to take care of our own parents.