Yeah, it is definitely possible to do it without incurring debt, or at least much debt. I attended community college and working retail for two years, then I spent two years doing work-study while attending university. My folks did pony up about 20k for housing (for which I am very grateful), but if I had to take that out in loans it wouldn't have been exactly a soul-crushing burden. On the other hand, I opted to study English instead of CS or EECS because there weren't enough hours in the day to work AND sleep AND pass differential equations and linear algebra (and I have the W's to prove that I tried, too). I didn't stop programming, though. After spending five years realizing that I dislike technical writing and sneaking in coding projects wherever I could, I transitioned into development full-time. Never been happier, but I'd probably be raking in more money if my degree had different letters. Hard to say what would have been the better choice.