>I keep saying over and over - enough money to LIVE OFF OF. That means the essentials - such as food, housing, clothing, heathcare, education. If you work 40hours a week you should be able to afford these things. Today you can not.
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>A lot of people think that an iPhone, a 40 inch flat screen TV, high speed internet and a car are essentials. Personally, I do not. And we have already established, by your own admission that someone working as a waitress or a bartender can earn up over $1,250 per week. That is over $65,000 per year. I think that this is enough money to live on and to pay for a college or trade school education. College is not meant for everyone....

Like it or not, but here where we a really are a step ahead from the US, at least the internet and smart phone has been become essential. Our IRS is phasing out paper and lots of communication is going over the internet. You cannot submit your Tax withouth internet anymore. Our kids, going to school, college have to have a smartphone because its now the online equavalent of the paper agenda we had. They grow up in a world where they use whats app, skype and hatsoever to communicate with eachother for school, sport. All goes through the internet. I agree its kind of scary as well, but those kids suck it up and use it in ways we never imagined 30 years ago.

IMO, College IS MEANT for everyone. Just like healthcare, it should be a fundamental right to be able to receive education. The costs are immaterial to the benefits. I would be dead right now if I did not have those rights here. My parents were not in a position to get me to college / university without governmental support. As a result I would likely not be doing what I'm doing now and would not have been able to have that neccesary medical treatment (which in the US is 10 times as expensive than here) to save my life. I'd probably would have died on the age of 38. How is that economically/socially better, if you're married with 2 teenage kids. No income, a family blown appart. Yeah society did save a few pennies on healthcare and education, but the result ending up to cost way more than the investment.