Big part of the problem is that tuition has been inflated to suck up every available federal dollar. I also drove cab, worked a day job and earned my MBA through night school at a well respected brick and mortar state university. Tuition was $135 per credit hour then. Not cheap by the standards of the 1980s, but do the math and try to find anything comparable today.
My first year at the Univ of Ark in 1977-78 cost $470 in tuition. That covered all hours you could take. I took 16 my first semester and 18 hours the next.
Room and board in the dorm wasn’t bad. All you could eat cafeteria that was the best on campus. It was really good.
I wish I had the option of pursuing my Masters in the 1980's. I graduated college (first time) in 1985, and had to find work in a hurry due to parents divorcing and my needing a place to live as a result. Ended up buying a house and putting off pursuing my Masters in Computer Science.
Finally went back in .... 2004 (19 years later) to complete my masters degree. By then I was on my second house and had two grade-school aged kids and a wife.
Oh and the cost: $36,000 out of pocket to complete my Masters Degree. My "first choice" of programs to go through was $72,000 which was well out of my price range... that would've been the Notre Dame Mendoza School of Business.