I dunno how you define "without any of the work" but I see plenty of young people graduating college with poor opportunities. Unemployment for 20-24 year olds is over 9%. The average student graduating with a 4-year degree from a public non-profit school has about $30k in debt. $100k is high, but they do need to cover that debt. They need to make more (adjusted for inflation) than their parents did at that age because their parents weren't saddled with all that debt. Instead they're sitting at 9% unemployment. Some degree programs are more rigorous than others but it seems like the current generation put in 4 years of strong work. Their parents generation didn't do that. And it wasn't the recipe for success they were told it would be.