The sum total of financial education I got (from an overwhelmingly upper middle-class school district) was one semester in high school. It spent about a month teaching us how to write a check. By contrast, it spent relatively little time on things like loans, credit cards or pretty much anything that wasn't already common sense. Really useful, that.

Hopefully I don't sound too whiny...

I went to a private university. I managed to graduate debt-free (thanks to some generous gifts from grandparents, wise savings by my parents and scholarships). That wiped out my savings, save what's in the sum total of what's in my own savings account. And this is where I'm going to have to admit to joining the ranks for people you're railing against. I'm existing on parental handouts, because I can't find a job, not for lack of trying. No one in my field wants to hire a fresh-out-of-college worker, because they can hire someone with years of experience who got laid off. (In addition, I'm in a field where you really need to have a graduate degree.) No one in retail or food service particularly wants to hire someone with a college degree, because they know that as soon as something better comes along, that person is going to leave. There just isn't a lot out there.

Now, it was my intent all along to go to graduate school. That will likely mean I need to take out a loan. Even if I get into a program where they offer a stipend, I'll likely have to pay for books and initial living expenses by credit card. You can't get away from it.

I got relatively lucky. Unlike many of my peers, I'll just have graduate school loan debt. Many of the ones that were in my classes will have undergraduate as well as graduate, medical or law school debt. Most of the engineering students I know are in debt up to their eyeballs, with not a lot of scope for paying it off. I also have friends from high school in similar situations. And like Oak said, the attitude a lot of them take is "you may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb."