I just have to counter the above. Sorry that this is long
I entered college at turn of millennium with zero credits. I graduated in 3.5 years while also doing a full semester internship and I changed my major twice. I was part of the three biggest tuition increases in ISU history (18%, 21%, and 11%?). Not off to the best circumstances.
But, I didn't use student loans to finance a computer, a car, or spring break trips. I knew many who did. I hustled, working five different jobs in that time frame, often two at once. Unfortunately, my wife did make mistakes and graduated with twice the debt of today's average college grad. yet, that was almost twenty years ago so conceivably she was 4-5x the national average. Those great circumstances keep piling up.
We spent eight years in our first two homes, both ended up being sold for a loss. And during that time, we had a child spend over 100 days in the hospital leading to my wife having to quit her job to care for him afterwards. So multiple times again not everything has gone right for me.
Yet, amidst those storms we paid off student loans and vehicles. Her first job, she made $26k as a school teacher and I made $33k. She's just now back to making $26k (subbing) after almost a decade of taking care of our kids. And I will never make $100k in my line of work. But, we chose to live within or below our means and have invested the savings wisely. I should be able to very comfortably retire in my 50s.
Oh, and I was a first generation college grad whose dad died (without life insurance) when I was in middle school and whose mom worked for hourly pay in retail.
Somewhere along the way, I must have gotten lucky right? I've found that the harder I work, the luckier I get.
