>>It had gotten to the point that what we achieved “back in the day” isn’t really comparable to a lot of what young people deal with today.<<
You missed the point.
It isn’t whether I could afford it or not. I went out into the world and stood (and fell FEQUENTLY) on my own 2 feet. My decisions were mine, the results were mine, the scrapes and scabs were mine. And I was not alone. Many of my contemporaries did the same.
I saw my family all the time but I took my laundry to the laundromat (unsurprisingly, I learned to do cook, cleand and do laundry when I was a kid).
I was close with my family and my mom and dad, and I would solicit advice but it was I who stood up for me.
This “art” of growing up is lost in Millennials.
I totally agree I was out the door on my own at 18 couldn’t wait to have my own place, paid my own way through college and NEVER looked back!! I will say one thing though I would NEVER have gone to college if it had put me in debt for the rest of my damn life NO WAY!! I would have worked my up through the ranks of restaurants, or grocery, or retail it doesn’t take that long to go into management in any of these industries hell in Dominos pizza they do EVERYTHING they can to put their hard workers into franchises!! These kids today have a lifetime of debt for a half assed education all they have learned is to HATE this country and be ashamed they were born white!! If I had ever had children they would NEVER had set foot into a university today NO WAY the trades pay excellent money AND they are in extremely high demand!!