These days, a part time income may not even be enough to cover books, let alone room and board… forget about tuition

This is again a more American perspective I think, which doesn't make it invalid of course. The situation over there where students typically get loans and suffer crippling debt for years after they've graduated is frankly outrageous. Over here though, higher education is government regulated and highly subsidized, and while it's not free and can still be pretty expensive, it's possible to fit it within the budget of most families without loans, and people from families with a really low income are eligible for a grant.

So I'm going to stand by my point that in Belgium at least, education has become more accessible compared to how it was for the boomer generation. It's visible in the statistics too: the number of people with a higher education level is still increasing every year, and younger people are much more likely to be highly educated than older people.

Sources:

• https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/datalab/datalab-census-education
• https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/work-training/training-and-education/level-education
• https://www.vlaanderen.be/vlaamse-regering/vlaamse-veerkracht/dashboard-vlaamse-veerkracht/inclusieve-groei/scholingsgraad-bij-25-tot-64-jarigen