Late Gen X with a Gen Z kid here, not contributing nearly as much to my retirement as I should be because I'm supporting her through college (without loans). We inherited this shit and we're sacrificing ourselves for the sake of our kids. I don't know who's to blame, but we've been dealing with this shit our whole lives. Don't blame us; we're trying to help

It is, at least partially, an inevitable consequence of an educational system that, whether by design or by accident, makes social mobility really difficult. Accessing advanced education often requires financial or personal sacrifices that are harder to make for lower income parents and kids. This is also compounded with the fact that in many places there's a perception that if you want a really good job you will need to go through this advanced education.

I was in that situation myself, I was always told that I couldn't expect to get a really great job in IT unless I went to college, which was unfeasible for me both financially and in terms of my aptitudes as a student. But fortunately for me, I discovered that my country had a vocational education system that prioritized the quick transition from education to employment, and a mere year and a half later I had a decent job, six years later I am an engineer. Turns out it wasn't necessary to go through four years of extremely expensive, pointless hoops, I only needed a chance to prove myself in a professional environment. It only cost my family 800 euros in two payments, now we are doing well financially.

So yeah, maybe just maybe if there were more systems in place like that, we wouldn't be reading how more and more parents are having to sacrifice everything just to give their kids a chance at some sort of future, you know?

Idk maybe I'm rambling.

Have they not figured out yet that this whole capitalism thing is imploding on itself