My parents actually had a college fund for me that was enough that I only had to work summers, like in the boomer myths of old, though this was over a decade ago. That said I went to a pretty cheap local college.

my parents insisted I take loans and focus on school. I ended up working on campus for professors later in college but that was functionally part of my education. was immiserated for a long while after graduating until a good chunk got forgiven when my mom became completely disabled (they were technically in her name). not sure this is a smart path to go down - I really lucked out. loan payments on 100k+ was more than my rent because they were using my mom's income to calculate the payments.