My father went to college in the 80's and he owned a tv, a car, and went to bars occasionally. He paid for that by working. A large portion of my friends paid for similar lifestyle by working in the mid 2000's.

You might be comparing your especially frugal college experience to a different one.

But tuition has been the college expense that has sky rocketed and made it difficult/impossible to pay your own way though college. My father paid around ~2,000 for tuition, my little sister would pay close to ~11,000 to go the same college which comes close to doubling the total cost of attending college.