Look at historic average college tuition costs vs minimum wage. 50 years ago you could pay for 50% plus on just 20 hours/wk of labor. Now it’s well over 40 hrs. That’s why most have no other option but to take out loans.

Honestly it’s not even worth the time to work given how little it pays. Most students would be better off taking out massive loans and focusing on study so that they graduate top of their class and get a kickass job/ go to a kickass grad school. That’ll maximize income in the long run making loans easier to pay back.

Unfortunately only so many students can graduate into those kickass jobs hence the situation we are in and why so many zoomers/millennials are struggling and feel lied to.