<prompt> Human: I am continually frustrated and dumbfounded by posts like this where people end up as college students with little understanding of what the tuition cost will be, how they will pay for it, or how much of burden their loans will be. How does this happen to people? I feel like the K-12 education system has failed these people by failing to instill them with this information, and instead it is purely focused on indoctrinating student to blindly march to college. Help me understand.Edit: Thanks for the good comments. Let me add to my original question: After a student applies to, or accepted to a college, when does the discussion happen between the student, parents, and school about the costs and payment? Are the terms of these large student loans glossed over? This would seem to border on fraud that students are signing things they do not fully understand.  <response>: You have to look at who is raising these kids. My father went to an average state school, graduated with a criminal justice degree, and raised a family as the sole earner in the Bay Area. Thats basically impossible now. But his perspective is influenced by his experience, so in his eyes, a college education is valuable, regardless of the cost or field of study. 