I was very lucky when I went to college, my folks helped when they could, even if it was only a hot meal every now and then, or a place to crash when I was between pads; and there were after-school part-times and summer jobs(fortunately, I was strong and healthy and could make good money doing construction work). And of course, there was the GI Bill. I don't think I would have made it wthout that $200 a month. I made it through without scholarships or loans, or grants, although I confess I worked a few University jobs and got a teaching assitantship. I graduated broke, but free and clear. I also rode a bicycle, wore workmen's clothes and my old uniforms, and lived with a bunch of freaks in a dump so bad the city came out and mowed our yard because they thought the house was abandoned. And I was not a frat rat or a football groupie. I never took a survey, but I imagine well over half my fellow students were under similar circumstances. in spite of all that, we had a pretty good time of it.

I'm proud of all that, but I can't really take all the credit, either. To a great extent, my college was subsidized by the state (and I just don't mean the US Navy). I went to a state university, a tax-supported institution. I paid my own tuition, books, housing, food and other expenses, but tuition did not come close to covering the cost of operating a great university. The remainder was taken up by the taxpayers of the State of Florida and the USA, for which I will always be grateful, and for which I am prepared to pay back my share to the next generation.

But in order to tap into all that government support, I had to be there in the first place, my family gave me the seed money and a safety net, but only when I anted the price of admission, could I tap into the huge middle and upper class welfare subsidy that college has always been. Even private schools pay large portions of their expenses with public money. Nobody pays for all their college education, (unless their rich parents donated huge funds to the University). Even today's kids, with their heavy debt loads, are on the dole to a certain extent when you add up all the hidden costs.

College is for those who can pay up front. Its always been a way of redistributing wealth collected from those who couldn't afford to go to those who can. Supposedly, we do this because the society as a whole benefits collectively by educating its young. Believe me, I was as well aware of this then as I am now.
I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. In fact, except for my grandfather who had attended the University of Havana on a government scholarship a century ago, I was the first to go.

I don't know how to solve this problem, but I was lucky myself, and I hesitate in placing any blame on the kids in the system now. But forgiving student loans isn't the only way the taxpayer pays for someone elses education, as I have pointed out.

Our economy is rapidly evolving into a condition where you can't get anywhere in life without a degree, where college costs are skyrocketing, and where the university is degenerating from a place to educate our youth to a publicly funded training camp for the private sector. There's plenty of blame to go about for everybody.