This and other of your comments break the HN guidelines. On this site, please comment civilly and substantively or not at all.
However, just because I taught myself doesn't mean that it was free. I had a year of lost wages which is about 65K, so all in all it costed about the same amount for me.
And then there's the matter of a debt being an amount agreed upon by all stakeholders, whereas your "lost wages" are just a number you calculate in an arbitrary manner, which may or may not reflect reality. Maybe you did lose $65k by not working. Maybe if you hadn't gone to college you'd have been hit by a car and you'd have lost far more than that. Maybe you'd be unemployed. Who's to say?
Money is not money unless it's in your pocket (or bank account) or in an IOU.
Wow. I didn't realize Hacker News folks were like redditors.
The 65k comes from the fact that I had to pay tuition and living expenses. My family is from a small town. The nearest college was 2 hours away (Indiana University). 15k a year adds up fast.
I honestly didn't NEED the education, I think if I spent 4 years teaching myself I would have been just fine. I just felt that I needed the degree to get my foot in the door anywhere. Maybe I was wrong, but do you dispute that?
Perhaps not $65k, but not too far off (depending on where you go). If you choose a cheaper school, there can be issues with getting a job or getting the salary you want (as I've heard it said, anyway).