I was lucky to go to college in the late 80s/early 90s when it was still within the realm of the affordable and after 1 year living in California I was able to get in-state tuition, which back then was dirt cheap. Plus I got scholarships, worked in the summers and lived in student cooperative housing that cost around $300/month for room and board. So I ended up with very little debt.

But none of that changed the fact that it's part of my family's culture to go to college. It's considered a minimum educational level and everyone is expected to get a four year degree. More than that, I wanted to learn. I wanted to learn everything I could about languages, how they work, their history, how they are used, and how language developed in ancient times. I wanted to learn archaeology, anthropology, sociology and mythology. And I wanted to learn as many languages as I could, both living and dead. College was a way to expand my mind and to further train it to absorb and analyze large amounts of information and come to conclusions about it. It was a way to get away from the East Coast and experience California to the fullest, to travel and hike and get to know the Pacific ocean. To expose myself to people who thought and lived completely differently from me. It did all of that and more. And yes, I was lucky to be able to do that without racking up crushing debt as students do today. In some ways I would say education is the purest luxury. Certainly nothing I learned in college or grad school has led directly to my employment. but it has shaped who I am forever.