graduate with enough savings With the majority 70 % of students graduating these days in debt , the average US student debt being over $ 33 k , and tuition costs having risen over 700 % in the last 20 years , the only way that ' s seriously possible is if someone ' s academic and living expenses were subsidized to the point of basically getting everything for free , allowing them to save all their pocket money as they please . I don ' t agree that there are tons of people who graduate with enough cash in the bank to go on a whirlwind tour of Europe . Does that stop people from doing it ? Nope , I ' ve personally watched a few people do it and subsequently struggle afterwards with both crippling credit and student loan debt .