Comment Re:No pity (Score 1) 827
In the state I live in (Massachusetts) $3,333 won't even cover a year at a community college.
This table lists the estimated cost of in-state (i.e. subsidized) tuition and fees for all state supported colleges in Massachusetts for the last 10 years, without room and board.
http://www.mass.edu/campuses/res_total.asp
In 2012-13, a year at community college was in the 4-6k range, state colleges 8-10k, and 11-12k for a UMass campus. Room and board goes for roughly 6-7k at a state college and 10k at UMass. Even if you find a job in college that covers all of your non tuition expenses (good luck), you're entering this job market with between 32k and 50k of debt, add room and board alone and that becomes 60-90k. And if you want to attend a more prestigious university, you're looking at 50-60k per year.
Add years of underemployment after graduation to that and it's easily a lifetime of crippling debt.