>It's a requirement for living regardless of whether you're in college.
No it's not. Most college students are young enough that they have the option of living with parents. If you're 19 and live with your parents your cost of living is close to 0, but you can't do that if you're forced to live on campus (even if just Freshmen year for most schools).
Additionally going to college full time is has opportunity costs. If you don't go to college you can work full time to pay your living expenses. If you go to college you can't (for most students).
Therefore attending college is forcing most people to look towards loans to support themselves. Loans for total cost of attendance at GSU are only a little less than half of loans for total cost of attendance at Harvard.
Here are the options for a student who got into GSU and Harvard. (actually sounds funny but I may have been able to get into Harvard, I did get into several other top tier schools, but I had no desire to live in boston. I went to GSU b/c they paid me so much money in scholarships that I was making a good deal of extra money)
1. Skip college work and pay expenses--no loan debt
2. Go to GSU take out loans --80K in loan debt
3. Go to Harvard take out loans -- 200k in loan debt
4. Go to GSU live on campus 1 year then with parents 3 years
50k in loan debt.
*Number 4 only works if you are with in driving distance to a good state school, and it's not an option if you're looking for the "college experience".
Transportation to and from a nearby state school plus food is not free even if your living with your parents. 5$ a day in food * 7 and 15$ a day in gas, maintenance, parking, etc * 5 days = 110$ a week * 16 weeks = 1760$ a semester. I went to a state school and adding a 45 minute commute each way was not worth the ~3-4k /year cost savings.
No it's not. Most college students are young enough that they have the option of living with parents. If you're 19 and live with your parents your cost of living is close to 0, but you can't do that if you're forced to live on campus (even if just Freshmen year for most schools).
Additionally going to college full time is has opportunity costs. If you don't go to college you can work full time to pay your living expenses. If you go to college you can't (for most students).
Therefore attending college is forcing most people to look towards loans to support themselves. Loans for total cost of attendance at GSU are only a little less than half of loans for total cost of attendance at Harvard.
Here are the options for a student who got into GSU and Harvard. (actually sounds funny but I may have been able to get into Harvard, I did get into several other top tier schools, but I had no desire to live in boston. I went to GSU b/c they paid me so much money in scholarships that I was making a good deal of extra money)
1. Skip college work and pay expenses--no loan debt
2. Go to GSU take out loans --80K in loan debt
3. Go to Harvard take out loans -- 200k in loan debt
4. Go to GSU live on campus 1 year then with parents 3 years 50k in loan debt.
*Number 4 only works if you are with in driving distance to a good state school, and it's not an option if you're looking for the "college experience".