I hear lots of whining about the cost of college. My daughter is in college, pays $9000 a year tuition, lives at home, works full time as an EMT (soon to be AEMT) making $40k a year with no expenses. She's pretty tired but is managing to keep her grades high enough, is aiming for medical school, gaining tons of confidence from the real-world experiences she's getting. She wouldn't have to prepare for an interview; she could just tell stories about her job and all the things she's involved in. I didn't want her to get a job since I had a college fund for her, but she isn't using it, she took responsibility for herself. And this is my lazier child. She just bought a new car with her own money today and she's 19. Even with the car she's putting half her paycheck in the bank, and will be a paramedic in about a year with corresponding large pay bump. By the time she comes out of college she'll easily be able to buy a starter home with her own money. If she leaves her college fund alone, I'm pretty sure she can just leave it there growing and use it for her own children someday.
What's stopping any of you from doing what my daughter is doing? The EMT certification was a semester in community college which cost about $2500. She did that while also taking 14 credits in her main college degree program at another school, taking guitar lessons, boxing lessons, dance lessons, and participating in HOSA.
It's really all about attitude. You have to believe in yourself, what you're doing, and where you're going.