First, paying on the order of $50 a credit hour does not amount to paying a fortune to attend college. If a student takes a full load of 15 credit hours each semester, his tuition payments will be 2 x 15 x $50 or $1,500 a year. Working 20 hours per week at the minimum wage (which falls into the negative tax bracket!) results in the student making 20 x $5.35 = $106.70 a week. That's over $5,200 a year. Any student who cannot pay his tuition, purchase his books and some clothes, and pay for transportation didn't learn enough in high school.
Students grousing about transportation costs is ridiculous. People who work for a living have to get to work at their own expense. Why do students think they are exempt from providing their own transportation to and from school.
Those students who are only qualified to be fry cooks upon graduation did not learn much in college. Most of those fry cooks graduates had foolish majors.
What really bothers me about articles like this one are the students and their parents who:
1. Think the taxpayers owe them subsidized tuition.
2. Think a college degree in worthless subjects such as studies is a magic talisman to riches.
Add extras like parking permits, meal plans, and the cost of housing, and you're talking $15-20,000 per year at a minimum. Books alone can cost another $500 per semester, more if they're new.
Granted the college kid would have been eating at home, which costs something, but you're not going to be able to pay your own way to attend a Texas University on your own (not living with your parents) on anything approaching a $5,200 income.