Yes-- and even back when I was a student, this was a significant problem. My own parents very much expected that I would "work my way" through college, and it was barely feasible then, and even so, my GPA jumped 0.5 my last year in college, when I finally said "I can't keep doing this" and quit my 40hr/week, minimum wage job in favor of loans.

I did have friends whose parents COULD pay (mine probably really couldn't have done much more than pay for textbooks and half of my tuition), but who REFUSED to do so for a variety of reasons.

It's complicated, and frankly-- the BEST scenario is one in which colleges rein in their own expenses to some degree, and realize that what the market will bear is not necessarily morally okay, nor "affordable" for all but the top 1% of households.


Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.