[InclinedPlane]

I agree that those things are part of the problem. People take too cavalier of an attitude toward college and its expense, and they over value the education they receive as well. I agree that more people should consider vocational training, it's a shame that our culture denigrates such jobs so much that people are discouraged from pursuing them.

But on the other hand college costs are becoming more and more unsustainable even as college is becoming more and more a requirement for well paying jobs. It's easier for her grandmother to say that one shouldn't borrow money that can't be paid back with utter certainty, she lived in a different era in every way. An era where it was not only possible but easy to find well paying work if one was reasonably smart, capable of being educated on the job, and a hard worker. Even two decades ago it was reasonable for a middle class family to pay college tuition for their children out of pocket without going into debt.