True.
If you cannot make more than $15k you probably have no business in college in the first place. Go pick up a shovel. Most college kids in Utah can easily earn over $30,000/yr. Kids in New York can earn $15k in 3 summer months waiting tables.
Adding in cost of living is disingenuous. It's there regardless.
We haven't even gotten to all the subsidies and scholarships available to lower the cost even further.
If after all that you still cannot afford tuition then take out a $30,000 loan and finish a 4 year degree asap. It's a ****ing car payment for hell's sake. The vast majority of majors make either in the $55k-74.9k range or $75k+. You can guess the ones that don't (social sciences, teachers, film...).
Anyone with a pulse can graduate by 22 and skate through life doing the bare minimum and retire by 52-56 with 100% pre-retirement income while waiting for social security and medicare to kick in. School is cheap, our model is so easy it's almost sad.
1. The average cost of living in New York is dramatically higher than most other places
2. Most college kids WOULD make 30k/year, IF they worked full time.
2a. Full time students actually giving a damn instead of going through the motions SHOULD be a full time job.
3. Higher education in many middle European nations is free.
4. It is not disingenuous to add in cost of living. Whether you go to college or not, it's there. And therefore has to be added to both sides, not removed.
5. Subsidies and scholarships are fair, but they're available other places too.
I know a college age kid that got her education here, and moved to Europe for her college. Not only is it free in many countries there, it's also free for outsiders. Some even give a stipend for extra costs. So along with her scholarships she got here, she's making money.