A lot of truth here but you could also reasonably work your way through college and pay it off as you go. That’s really only possible today at the juco level. The cost of college today is insane.
It was not just the unavailability of debt, it was lifestyle too. Not sure if this was unique to my town, but people just didn't spend money traveling and eating out the way they do now. Even the rich people we knew mostly didn't travel out of the country. Even for the really affluent families, it was basically a week at the beach or a week skiing, and then state or ole miss sports and a hunting camp that was owned rather than leased. Nobody racked up frequent flier miles unless they flew for work.
I don't think this is one of the things in favor or against one generation or the other. I think it's good that younger generations travel more and enjoy themselves more, but it is something that sucks up money that I don't think younger people appreciate when they complain about how much harder they have it.
I had a relative roughly my age complaining about having to pay a dentist bill and not having the money and he had finished up his second trip to Europe in probably three years a month or two earlier. Like, yes, when you are in your twenties and not in a particularly lucrative job and vacationing in Europe multiple times, it is going to be hard to pay other bills. But for all the things that boomers did 17 up, that's not one of the things that is really their fault.
And I would say I am somewhat less sympathetic about the cost of college. It's more expensive than it should be, but two years in JUCO and two years at State, Ole Miss, or USM (which granted, lots of states don't have dirt cheap options like that) is still going to be something like $25k-$30k in tuition and books for most people. So you're basically starting off with a car loan with deductible interest. That's not good, but most of the people complaining are complaining about voluntarily taking on lifestyle debt.
Where younger people are really screwed is housing. It is insane how much of a burden we continually add to the cost of housing with restrictive zoning and constantly upping the minimum cost of building.