I was born in 1965. Coasted through grade school and graduated with a low B average in 1983. I putzed around in the working world before enrolling in community college. I did very well, straight A average, and graduated with a two-year associates degree in 1987.
I've always been generally lazy and unfocused. Still, I got a halfway decent job and stuck with it. Changed jobs once in 1999; still work there and, at 56, make good money, own a home (paid off for over a decade), and am looking forward to a comfortable retirement.
I'm from the last generation who was able to coast through life like this and still wind up being successful.
Guess how much college cost me? $2000. I didn't need a loan; I worked an unskilled job which paid $7.75/hr (just under $20 in today's dollars) and paid for school myself. I lived in the sort of apartment most 20-something single guys always live in, with a roommate. My portion of rent was $150/month (around $380 today). I had money in the bank and always had enough for my bills. I paid for dinner anytime I went on a date.
Don't let anyone tell you things aren't harder today; they most definitely are. 40 years of the PTB methodically working to crush the working class, busting unions, have led us to where we are today. I'm glad I'm not coming up through today's system.
The PTB don't want things to change; in fact, they want them to become even worse. You're going to need to fight, and hard, to get what's yours. Maybe even light shit up.
There's a better world ahead. But it's gonna take a lot of work to fix this shit.