My brother and SIL got their PhDs without debt. SIL was a stellar student, full scholarships and stipend through med school. Brother got grants for undergrad, and lived in a 70's Toyota van rather than pay for dorms or an apartment, took summer internships that provided housing or lived in the van and just used the gym/shower facility. <3
In my state, college tuition is the same as daycare. I noticed because I was paying cash for my classes and for daycare. Daycare was more than my tuition/books/fees!
Tuition for the nearest state university here is 30 weeks full time at $7.25/hr (minimum wage). However, many entry level retail jobs pay $9/hr, and a semester coupled be paid for in 25 weeks. If someone attends spring and fall semester, there are 21 full weeks they can work in the year. Those plus weekend job, and live at home, or unconventional housing.... I would argue it can still be done. No partying, no dating, no eating out, no cellphone, no pets, no fancy clothes, etc.
When I was taking college classes a couple years ago, in a rural low income area, I was absolutely astounded that the people who complained of financial hardship attending school were so loose with their money. Eating out, road trips, multiple pets, commuting, fancy new everything, smart phones. I came to the conclusion that financial aid for tuition helps people make stupid financial decisions and bomb their college classes.
Maybe I'm just uber-frugal, but there's often a disconnect between perception and behavior and articles like this can be myopic. Perhaps the research should have also noted if those struggling students were paying for smart phones, data plans, had purchased a laptop, tablet, or new phone in the past 2 years? Those things are luxuries and I have little sympathy who spends $200 a month on a cell phone and data plan and then complains they can't eat for 4 days in a month because they ran out of money.
