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I was a poor college student once. I chose a school that was less expensive (and less prestigious) than others. I took out student loans to pay for a lot of it, but I also worked part-time during school. I took a semester off because money was low. I earned enough to start classes again.

I was a commuter student, so there were no frat parties. I never took a spring break vacation. After I graduated, it took 3 years until I found a job in my chosen field. In the meantime, I worked in construction and retail. Eventually I paid back every cent (with interest) on my loans.

Do I get a refund?

I was a poor college student once. I chose a school that was less expensive (and less prestigious) than others. I took out student loans to pay for a lot of it, but I also worked part-time during school. I took a semester off because money was low. I earned enough to start classes again. I was a commuter student, so there were no frat parties. I never took a spring break vacation. After I graduated, it took 3 years until I found a job in my chosen field. In the meantime, I worked in construction and retail. Eventually I paid back every cent (with interest) on my loans. Do I get a refund?

I could have written this. It was ditto, ditto, ditto for me. I went to the hometown college (Ohio State University). I did live off campus, but in a shared house. I worked summers and part time to finance my tuition, while my parents paid for my books and board. I paid back any student loans I had to take out.

This is a character-building sort of endeavor, a side benefit of college education. Would you deprive these poor snowflakes of an experience they really seem to need badly and pay off those loans? And why the heck SHOULD I pay off someone else's loan? They too good to roll up their sleeves and work for what they want, like I did?

My dad made just enough to disqualify me from getting loans. I took 18 to 24 units each quarter at UCSD. It was a 30 mile drive one-way from home. I left at 6 AM many mornings to get work done in the lab before taking on my physics TA (teaching assistant) duties. I was really the "teacher". The supervising professor just administered the midterm and final exams. Self-paced class. Must score a perfect result to proceed. After the physics classes, it was off to my own lectures and labs. We did a "pay as you go". I finished UCSD in 2 1/2 years. My dad retired from the Navy 2 months after I graduated.

UCSD was more affordable in those days. $212 per quarter registration. $46 per year for parking. Books around $100 per quarter...less money recovered by reselling books from a prior quarter. Brown bag lunch. Gas was 30 cents per gallon. I burned about 2 gallons per day on campus. Some days I had pocket change for a bagel with cream cheese. Never had better than a 4 function calculator and a slide rule until after graduation. Others had HP-35 and HP-45. Hard to compete with that even for square roots. Factorials in the genetics classes were cumbersome with a 4 banger. A good school managed with pedestrian financial resources.