In-state tuition at University of Maryland is $10,000. You don’t need to take loans for living expenses, you can get a job. (A big part of what has made college “unaffordable” is not tuition increases, but the idea that people must be full-time students. That tacks on an additional $15k or so in living expenses each year, which is more than the tuition at all but the most expensive public colleges. To be fair, part of that is the exploding price of housing in many college towns, the bad job market for high school graduates, and the fact that we have infantilized teenagers so that they don’t go into college with job experience that might make them employable.)