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Comment by eblah | Hacker News Reader

Instead of pushing students to loans, why not show them the value of hard work thru college? People make out like it's an impossibility, but it isn't. It isn't fun, and you might not get the 4.0 average you'd want, but it is possible because I've done it. I didn't have a fancy car or a great high paying job. I also didn't go to a well known college, but rather just a smaller college locally.

What we really should be doing is showing students that WHERE they go to college very often doesn't matter at all after graduation, because so much is learned on the job. What matters is the core concepts are given that lays a great foundation for their "real" jobs later.

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"I did it in this specific area, so anybody who can't in the entire country is just lazy" seems to be what you're implying here, and that's an incredibly unhelpful position when dealing with tuition that in many places has inflated well beyond what an entry-level work can hope to cover while also dealing with room and board.

No, I'm not. I'm saying a part of maturity is paying and cash flowing things.

It might take a lot longer, and it might be a lot harder and a few less dinners with friends, but it is very possible to cash flow college.

It's a different mindset. What most people think today is you should always have a loan for something -- car, house, college, a little consumer debt... but it's incredibly freeing when you don't have any of that stuff. I wasn't given anything, but I've learned that hard work and no debt can make life so much greater.

This is not a realistic thing to expect anymore: http://www.vox.com/2015/8/28/9220705/college-working-map

Then I did the impossible 6 years ago. :) In Alabama, no less!

I worked through high school, saved several thousand, had a little pay-as-you-go flip phone, an old $1500 car, and rarely ever saw the inside of a restaurant.

All I know is, it worked for me.

That said, costs have been going up... so sure, it does cost more now. If I didn't have the money for a semester, I'd have just had to take less credit hours. Not optimal, but not the end of the world. And much better than paying thousands in interest for a loan.

Alabama may have a lower minimum wage, making it take longer to earn enough to pay for a year of tuition, but they also have a much lower cost of living than most of the country and that's not taken into account in that chart.

You also forget that for a large number of people, that just doesn't work out. Some of us have to help out our parents when we work (yes, even in high school), and that $1500 car could just as easily cost you thousands in repairs as save you money. Add in health problems or other unexpected but vital expenses and you could really be screwed.

College really doesn't have to cost this much, and it DIDN'T cost this much until very recently. Both the professors and the students are getting a raw deal now, and the fact that you were able to limp your way through school by working a lot and occasionally going less than full-time doesn't change any of that.

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