Again, you’re using personal anecdotes and ignoring the bigger picture, which is a sign of not caring and/or not thinking things through. And the data youve provided supports the case for what the OP wrote: you can’t pay for college fees on a summer job’s earnings, and college is so expensive as to force many students to live in their cars or on other people’s couches or go without food.

So let’s look at your numbers. Assuming only 10% of a paycheck goes to taxes because of low earnings, a minimum wage job where you live pays $6.53 an hour. Let’s say the fees are $8900, and your hypothetical student gets by on only $500 for books and another $100 for pens and paper and whatnot. That’s $9500. It would take more than 8 months of work full time to cover these costs. And the student has not eaten yet.

As for establishing residency in another state, the states I’ve looked at require that you live there for 6 months to 3 years before they’ll call you in-state. During that time, you’ll have to be paying rent and buying food. You can’t live in your van because you need a physical address for establishing residency. How much of that $6.53 per hour will you be able to save for college? Answer: none of it or very nearly so.

Please don’t depict difficult things as being easy. This approach is one of the things that’s created this mess.