Serious question... At what point did it become routine for a kid to be owed a free college degree? We didn't pay for our kids college but they both got scholarships and went. Both had any remaining debt paid off quickly after graduation. Hint, if it's paid for by someone else, in the end it doesn't mean nearly as much.
Making each generation start from scratch on their own is hamstringing yourself compared to wealthy families. Generational wealth isn't had by abandoning your children to their fate. Cultures and nations are not sustained nor advanced by expecting each generation to start from the beginning. It's not owing your child, it's owing yourself and your people. Elites aren't better than you. They just behave slightly differently. Culture!
I went to school on about half scholarships. I had to borrow and work a 40 hour week at night. Fine and fortunate coming from white trash. When I began to figure out graduate school I was told point blank by those who had gone that path before that some of what I was considering didn't happen while working full time or at all. Something else required unpaid internship. Those paths were not open to me no matter how hard I would work. If you don't finish education of your child you are leaving advantages open to others just because they do the complete job for their offspring.
Also, y'all who decry college education and who are unwilling to get an education are leaving positions of authority open to those who are incompetent but have that piece of paper. You do what they say and tend to believe their lies because you weren't educated any better.
If you come from the people who had the University of Oxford going before the people who built the Aztec pyramids, the path forward is probably not competing directly against the rock stackers. You might oughta try for something a little more advanced if you expect to stay ahead of them.
