You can get through school debt free, if you want to work, take your time, and utilize various tactics to cut costs.
This indebted person just did it the hard way. Here comes reality, frowning and carrying a big stick.
BUMP!! That's what I did. Took a while, grades suffered, but I earned my degree in Engineering the hard way. I stocked shelves, I mopped floors, I checked people out at the register, I unloaded trucks and I delivered pizza. Wasn't easy, wasn't fun - missed out on a lot of social and party events .... but I did it.
I worked my way through school. Started at the local community college then transfered to a state university. Had a husband, a young child, went to school days and worked nights. Paid cash for everything.
After I graduated with a Bachelors in Business with an emphasis in Accounting I had plenty of Job offers but took one at a major online university as a headhunter for faculty.
In that position I received psych and sociology majors resumes all day every day. They were a dime a dozen and I used to tell them so.
I forgot to mention the real reason I took the faculty recruiter job was they offered a degree for free as long as you worked there so I got my Masters for free.
Deserves a tagline, that one.