No one should want their child to be buried in a six-figure debt. But the answer, at least on the median HN reader's salary, is to save and invest 4-5 figures over each of your child's 18 years. That is what universities will expect when deciding what to charge you, and what the government endorsed when creating tax-advantaged accounts for that purpose.
I guess you could say "Not fair!" but the families that do this outperform the ones that don't, by wider and wider margins, and that right there is "rising inequality."
Just a few years out, my parents' investment has paid off handsomely. They don't want it back. They want it paid forward to my own kids. Morality notwithstanding, this particular belief system seems to be a winning a strategy.
[0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/233301/median-household-...
I'm doing fine, and am not really worried about my kid affording college.
But too many of my friends are _not_ doing fine, and I have a strong suspicion college was not a good ROI for them. The combination of :
* "You MUST do this to be a successful adult"
* "Oh btw it costs several years' worth of your future income"
* "But guess what! Here's a big pile of debt that you can never discharge no matter what" (aside from death and some very, very extreme tax circumstances)
* "And because we're responsible adults who care about the next generation we made sure you attended horrible schools through your youth and have no cultural appreciation for mathematics giving you none of the tools you'd need to accurately determine if this is a good decision"
Finally, as covered in Duckworth's book "Grit" brains / education isn't the key.
They are entitled in the sense they insist on going to some overly expensive exotic school to get that degree, because a state school isn't good for their ego. Because dad said I can do whatever I want with my life.
They are entitled in the sense they make these decisions without any sense of the debt they're going to take on. I hate to sound blunt but if you can't figure out (e.g.) 100k in debt isn't easy when you make 35k y/p (and insist on an apt with all mod cons, a new car, etc.) then perhaps you're not yet college material.
True story: I recently suggested to an average academic HS senior that he consider a year at the local community college to get the ball rolling. I explained he could transfer. I explained first year courses didn't matter. I explained it would save a __ton__ of money. I don't think he heard anything I said.
It's not being entitled to success, it's terror at being a complete and utter loser, because we spend eighteen years drumming "if you don't go to college you'll be dirt poor, live in a van down by the river, and flip burgers" in to their heads.
You're told constantly that if you don't go to college you're utter scum.
Of course, the implication that flipping burgers is shameful is something we should address. We might also consider telling kids about all the successful career paths that don't require college - if my kid were looking at US levels of student debt I'd be suggesting plumbing, metal fabrication, etc. like crazy. You don't need to go to college to learn CNC, and the debt incurred going to college can destroy your life and robs the world of a creative, risk-taking individual. How many people would be making great things or solving the big problems of our time but instead are doing bullshit jobs because they have an enormous mountain of debt?