That's a sad state of affairs. I was raised by a mother who had a single income, my "father" was/is an alcoholic and left when I was about 9. I have little to no memory of him spending much time with me up to that point, so to say that he/his earnings were a positive contributing factor in our household income would be a lie.
I think my mother was making about $15k in the mid-80's, raising two rambunctious boys. IOW, we didn't have much other than a roof over our heads, food to eat and OTA TV and usually a POS vehicle I was embarrassed to be seen in. I say that I grew up dirt poor. We might have had a wooden or concrete floor beneath us, but that was about it as far as upgrades beyond that classification.
I have "worked" since I was about 9 years old. Either mowing/raking yards, taking out garbage/bringing in groceries for old neighbor ladies, to picking up empty Coke bottles to return to the store for refund.... in order to finance my needs/desires as a kid - fishing lures/line/etc., gas money for my 3.5hp B&G push mower, matchbox cars, etc.
I have become very jaded with my views today of how kids are raised and even how the 50 and under crowd has been raised by their parents. The reason why it is $80-100k for a basic 4-year degree from a state school, even in the southeast, is because **** near every single student has parents backing them, writing checks to cover 100% of the cost, or, as you say, they can secure a student loan for any amount. Then they go to college for 4, 6, 7 years and WON'T, not Don't, work a single hour during that period. They are out of college, most with a useless degree in something that no longer appeals to them and can't get a job to afford all the crap they want/need.
I don't have a 4-year degree and I'll admit - it took longer and I had to work more/harder to get where I'm at, but I'm now a 3%'er or 2%'er, whatever the class warfare dolts want to say now, and I've done it on my own.