I love your Home Depot story! I can just imagine the amazed clerk! 
I agree completely with all the comments about the standard of living for college increasing steadily over time. When I compare my freshman dorm - no air conditioning in the south – to the dorms now – and new ones being built constantly that are bigger and nicer with so many amenities – of course they cost more!
And the demands for every kind of dietary preference to be accommodated in cafeterias is expensive. We had one cafeteria line at my small liberal arts college with the only alternatives to that being a baked potato or a hamburger. Today, kids are eating sushi (really!) in their college cafeterias, along with a myriad of other options. An all you can eat buffet that is open almost all hours IS EXPENSIVE.
So, bottom line, kids are borrowing money to eat extravagantly, and financing that over decades! That just isn’t smart. As other posters comment, there are less expensive ways to get an education.
I have always wondered about figures showing government funding per student for state schools. I have even looked online and can’t find anything. What is the subsidy by state or by university per student?