From Atrios (Eschaton: The Math):

Can some of the people who rule us sit down and do a few calculations. Look at typical student loan debt at graduation. Look at median first job salaries for college graduates. Typical 10 year earnings profiles of those graduates. Then ask yourselves, how exactly are they supposed to buy homes and save for retirement?

College is one of those things where the college tuition has far outpaced inflation or the actual cost of running the institution. Decades ago you could work the summer and pay for school. How many summers of work for a person in their late teens early twenties to pay for a year of tuition these days? exactly.