You are lucky.

I wish I could have just enjoyed college without worrying about food, gas, and keeping a roof over my head.

Working to pay for all that as a science major was no easy task. I cut corners and sometimes took too many credits to graduate in a timely manner.

It wasn't Animal House or Legally Blonde.

I met a guy in college who was trying to take vector calc, physics, and data structures and algorithms, while supporting himself in San Diego working part time at Nordstrom. He had to drop data structures. I didn't stay in touch, of course I hope he did alright.

I find it depressing that a promising student, who has gained entry into a college like UCSD with good grades in math and basic CS, is struggling to afford to continue. We live in a state where multi multi billionaires lament the shortage of highly educated engineers (who are essential to their billions), but this guy has to drop out because he's having trouble balancing paying the rent with a very rigorous curriculum.

I managed to get about 70% of my entire undergrad (tuition, books, and living expenses) covered by academic scholarships.

Even with working every summer, every Christmas break, and through 3 of the 4 years while at school, I still had to miss many classes to pick up extra shifts at work (thankfully only a handful of courses are strict about attendance, so my GPA only suffered by about ~0.3). And I still came out with the "average student loan debt" of about 22k.

Unfortunately, despite how "smart" I am. I was too retarded to see what a mistake the life sciences were and I'm still working on that debt.

College is a scam if you're at least decently intelligent. It's an 80k stamp.

I'm in that 45%, though I used military benefits to cover it. So really, American taxpayers as a whole paid for my bachelor degree.

Well, you earned it! :)

My wife paid her own way through college despite her parents being solidly middle/upper middle class. It's more common than I thought (being in that 9%).

Neither my wife or I received any money.

We've setup 529's for the kids, but it won't be enough to cover the full cost, even for a Cal State school.

Don't underestimate the power of compound interest. My dad tells me like this: Every time you take your kid to a fast food place, get him lemon water and put the soda money into the college fund. Small stuff like this really adds up over 18 years.