[madeuptempacct]

It's common sense. I did say barring accidents and having an actual life. The below is conservative.

1. Pick practical degree, because you are poor and anything else is luxury.

2. Work in college, because you are poor. End up with 30k of debt because you are dumn and didn't get a scholarship.

3. Make 40k a year. (22% fed, let's say 4% state), 30k net. -10k rent, -10k expenses, 10k left.

4. Pay off college by 25.

5. Save up 50k by 30.

6. Masters degree by 32 with no debt.

7. Increase income to 100k by 45.

8. Congrats middle class pleb. (Which I am, though this isn't my story)

[annabellish]

I can tell that that isn't your story, because there's a lot of conjecture in there that isn't supported by the data. Even just starting with #1, the ability to pick a degree at _all_ is a privilege not automatically afforded to everybody. Should you be able to do so, then working during college is strongly linked to worse outcomes, as you have less time to dedicate to learning - thus making #3 harder as you're competing against people who have had better chances than you. If you can't do 3, you can't do 4, 5, 6, or 7, and 8 is predicated on that.

It might be "common sense" to you, but it's directly contradicted by all the data.

[madeuptempacct]

"the ability to pick a degree at _all_ is a privilege not automatically afforded to everybody."

I completely agree that this is a huge issue. A large problem for kids from "bad" families is not having any idea what they "should" be doing, and by the time they figure it out, they may have already ruined their life and missed opportunities.