When you try to be hard and make a point but Bieber won't let you.

I graduated from college with zero debt. YES it wasn't as expensive as today, but just to share here's how I did so.
First off I started working each summer when I was 13 years old. About 75% of all that money went into my college savings. My first 2 years in school I worked as a mobile DJ. That meant every friday night and saturday night, some saturdays (wedding receptions and such) and some sundays. I also took the lightest full time load possible. My last 3 years of school (it took me 5, taking a lighter load) I worked in retail sales, 30 hours/week. Each and every summer I worked around 60 hours/week. I worked as a life guard, then later on as the pool manager - so 60 hours working around a pool (and 2 years at a beach) wasn't that horrible of a grind. I was outside, and the girls in bikinis helped with motivation.

Can this be done today? It's more difficult, but if by chance you have supportive parents you may be able to. I helped a co-worker figure out her daughter's college predicament. She let her daughter live at home, BIG-HUGE factor that not everybody can enjoy. She went to the local college that is far less expensive than the state Universities. She worked every summer full time, and worked part time while in school. It took her 6 years to graduate, but she did so debt free.

Whether society should pay for 100% of school is a debate I'll leave up to the rest of you here. I'm just putting in my two cents, pointing out that if you REALLY want to - you can eliminate or at least drastically reduce debt. I did go to college with folks who didn't work - ever - and graduated with a shit ton of debt. Certainly not as much as today - but a shit ton.

Full disclosure - I too am frightened of the cost of today's universities and colleges. I locked my kids into Florida pre-paid years ago and my wife and I scrimped on other things to pay it off early. My kid's tuition is now paid for, so long as they go to a Florida College or University. We'll still have housing and living expenses, but we have a fine University locally and if need be I'll let my kids live at home and feed them the first two years, after that I really want them living on or near campus so they can start to get a taste of the real world.

/r/funny Thread Parent Link - i.imgur.com