College shouldn't be free, it should cost you. Student loans acquired during one's formal post-secondary education should be paid back in full. Education has a cost.
You are correct on all of your points.
I thank God that I was able to use my GI Bill education benefits to help me pay for a lot of both my undergraduate and graduate level college costs, & it was at a time when college education hadn't yet become the great onus it is to students, their families, and sometimes their spouses.
I understand that there is some truth to the adage that "You get what you pay for," but that isn't always universally [Pardon the pun.] true today. College professors demand salaries that are unrealistic in today's economy. Textbooks are outrageously priced. And then if a student lives too far from home to commute back and forth to campus, then you've got dorm fees to pay. And on and it goes.
Thankfully there are some alternatives that can help to reduce some college/university financial burdens.
Seeking out a nearby Community College whose costs are usually a lot lower can be one route to take, even if it's just to cover the required "General Education" courses.
If a student can do so, he/she can sometimes "test out" on certain subjects. Your HS guidance counselor can guide you in these matters.
A HS student should apply for as many scholarships as he/she can. You may not be awarded every scholarship for which you apply (and some require you to be in some "special situations"), but if you don't apply for a scholarship at all, you certainly won't get one!
And, yes, there's still the option of forgoing college immediately after HS graduation to enlist in the military. I understand that some may not wish to pursue this path, especially in light of recent events and the possibility of being sent somewhere and/or doing some things you may not wish to do. OTOH, most branches of the armed forces provide you with practically "free" college-level credits that will transfer on to university level course credits.
Since I served in the USAF, I can only tell you of what it did for me with regard to helping me get credits that allowed me to forgo classes that'd cost me an arm and a leg in the civilian world.
The USAF has what's known as the Community College of the Air Force. What this is is the way your military training is converted into regionally accredited [by the Southern Assn. of Colleges & Schools {SACS}] course credits.
One's Basic Training converts into 4 SH of Physical Education.
Your Tech School Training is converted into whatever you are trained to perform while in the USAF. In my case, I was trained in the Avionics Guidance & Control Systems Specialty. Now I have a total of 49 SH in electronics.
Once on the job, I had hands-on training for both the 5-level & 7-level G&C specialty. That gave me an "Internship" credit of 8 SH. (Granted, this is probably not a transferable set of credits for a university, but if you wish to pursue, say, missionary aviation or work in an aviation field, the hands-on experience that you have might put you on the fast-track for hiring compared to someone who has no recognizable experience at all.)
I also took management courses for free under the auspices of the USAF NCO Academy. This gave me 5 SH of management studies.
I could have probably have done more, but I just didn't have that much time to devote when I was with the TN ANG and holding down a full-time teaching & administrative positions in both a Christian school and an a Bible college (plus heading up my church's bus ministry, PA sound system operations, and its tape ministry, and trying to live a life "outside the realm of additional local church volunteerism [like AWANA's, weekly visitation, cleaning up the physical facilities of the church & school, etc."].).
Bottom line for the advantages military service is something you can't always put down on paper.
You have to learn to get along with all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds and all sorts of ideas on all sorts of life's facets.
Many 18 YO people aren't exposed to this kind of life if all they've ever done was to live at home with their parents and/or siblings in a rather sheltered environment comprised of hanging out with friends that share lots of things in common that have developed over years of knowing each other.
OTOH, I do know that not every "Christian" home is all that we would want it to be. We live in an increasingly challenged environment that is hardly the same as it was 50-60 years ago.
"Mayberry" seldom exists in today's world. Ward Cleaver isn't your typical father in many homes today--in fact, he sometimes isn't even IN the homes of today's youth.
Drugs, violence, bullying, g@y lifestyles now have government sanction, and the list goes on.
What was once merely on the far fringes of society is now practically IN CONTROL of our society.
All these factors, plus trying to get an education that may or may not prove to be worth the cost and effort for many people who now are trying to start out on their own, maybe trying to raise a family as well can very easily put the "average Joe (or Jane)" in an almost no-win set of circumstances.
Unfortunately, looking to the government to help you isn't much of an option for those who want to do right by the principles of God's Word.
Thankfully there are still a few good churches and other ministry resources (online classes come to mind) that are out there.
Finding the right mix for a person who seeks a vocational or bi-vocational position in a church is possible, but it takes a lot of determination--and a lot of "blood, sweat, tears, and, most of all prayers" to become what you believe God would have you to do while living this life here on earth.
