[juiceandjuice]

Totally agree. I think there is this bias in these particular stories because of where these stories are originating. Most people aren't from the bay area, or went to Stanford, an Ivy or even a UC School. Most public/state schools will run $5k a year or so in tuition. An average person can finish in 5 years. In some states with lotteries, like New Mexico, you can go to college for free.

People get so wrapped up in their college's ranking in US News that they don't bother to find out which colleges are good enough. It's kind of a silly rule, but I usually tell people that, as long as their college has a basketball or football team (no matter how horrible they are), it's probably good enough.