My parents paid for my first degree and for my second degree, I worked every other semester in my field through the cooperative education program at my school. For my Masters, I went back to school as a (much) older adult after saving up a bunch of money from a well-paying job and paid for everything myself.
However, I realize that many, many others in the U.S. are nowhere near as privileged as I have been and being born into a family like mine and so I do want to see more opportunities available for people to get a good education without incurring thousands upon thousands of dollars in debt, which is a crushing burden on so many nowadays. I'm also very grateful that when I was a high school graduate, it was during a time when it was actually possible for a person to go to a good public university (and even many private universities were fairly reasonable in cost) and not go into debt through (actual) scholarships and work-study programs if need be. Nowadays, most student aid is in the form of loans.
A lot of older people look back on their own experiences and think everything is still exactly the same as it was decades ago and can't seem to comprehend that it's a very, very different world for young people than it was.
There but for the grace of God go I.
