Millennial powers

This is pretty specific to millenials in the USA...

In Australia for citizens, the government subsidises around 75-80% of the cost of university, loans are through the government and are interest-free (just indexed for inflation once per year), and payments are based on income - no payment required at all if you're earning less than AU$51k/year, and payment rates vary between 1% of your income at $51k/year to 10% of income for $151k/year or higher.

This is pretty specific to millenials in the USA
UK too at the very least, though I'm sure there are other places this applies, too (yes, uni used to be free here, but the cost has been steadily increasing, as has the necessity of a student loan to attend).
More specifically, millennials in the US that decided to go to a big name school instead of a local community college.
- Community colleges only offer up to associate's degrees. If you happen to live in a state where they got bumped up to colleges that offer bachelor's, then maybe, but those tend to have limited 4-year degrees and aren't going to really help anyone land lucrative jobs. A person with a 4-year degree from Orange County College will likely get passed up for a person with a degree from State University.
  Master's and doctorate's are only given at universities and their tuitions are typically at least 3 times more per credit. Those include nurse educators, therapists, social workers, public school teaching managers, public administrators, non-profit managers, professors, historians, sociologists, community organizers, ... basically any type of specialized public servant and social scientist that makes okay middle-class income is going to be in significant student debt while also coming out of school later. Lots of these don't even get to start making the okay income until several years of experience in the field. Also, just because a teacher has a master's degree doesn't mean there's a public school manager position available, and when there is, it's going to be a competitive hiring process where many will apply but only one gets hired.
  That means that many people don't achieve these positions until their 30s. By that time, they've likely been paying very little into their student debt, possibly allowing interest to accrue and increase the amount owed. Once they make enough to actually start decreasing the principle, they're also getting a home loan and start raising children, which is even more expenditure. Being a lower- to middle- class millennial and younger with a goal of tertiary education is practically an unaware commitment to being a debt slave.
Yeah I'm Canadian and I paid off my student loans a couple of years after finishing Uni. I did live at home for school though which kept my costs down.
- I lived at home too. That's pretty common in Australia.
My country's economy is so far down the drain hole we didn't even have loans until last month, the banks were only loaning to the government because it paid better
But hey at least we have public universities
- Which country do you live in?
I knew about student loans for the first time until I checked on YNAB subreddit (a spending managing app/website, in short) and seeing many users had a Student Loan category lol.

I only have a bachelor's degree, I'm in Europe so no dept, I made enough right after college to live on my own. I definitely don't need to get a second job or move in with my parents. What am I doing wrong?

Not enough radical activism to save the species?
(This is also a self-criticism)
- No amount of radical activism will significantly change the political landscape in most EU nations. In fact, the activism is on the rise, and yet far right is winning big time. Soon in your EU parliament and bye-bye combustion cars ban. Expect abortion bans instead. And we aren't even talking about the fact that most pollution now happens in countries that would be impossible to change to sincere green policies. Although the EU supply chain initiative is a step in the right direction, and yet just a drop in the bucket.
  Your species are gone. And so are about a few billions of people in the developing world. The timer is some 10-30 years (90% prediction interval).
  Exactly what am I supposed to do? My radical proposal is we develop some infertility drug and start putting it into the waterways. Do you know enough biochemistry? I'll be the driver. On a different topic, instead of recycling my plastic bottles, I shredd them and flush them into the toilet. In the name of humanity and species diversity.
Son what you need in life is a hoot'n toot'n don't mind shoot'n attitude
Same here. Went to trade school, working at construction since I was 21, bought my first car around the same time, bought house at 25. Now at 30+ I got like 80k€ left on my mortage and no other loans. Around +50k€ in savings mostly invested into index funds. I could be doing better but I can't complain. Recently started my own bussines so we'll see how that goes.
My only friend I keep hearing the type of complaints from that I read about on lemmy every day went to photography school but is an aspiring painter/artist now instead. For some reason money's tight and it's because of capitalism apparently. Go figure..
- "Because I don't experience a thing personally (or just have head up rectum), everyone who does is a liar!" 🙄
- bought house at 25. Now at 30+
  Here's your big trick. I used it too, the whole "buy a house when the market was affordable" method is nice, but to replicate when you were spent the last housing crash learning to write instead of earning money..

This is best comic seen in a long time.

I’ll take that high honor, thanks 😊
It’s about five years old, and the artist seems to have stopped making new ones but they have a bunch of others which made me lol