If one is from the middle class, then scrimping and sacrificing can probably make a trip to Europe or an unpaid internship feasible. But if you are from the working class (and in fact, more Americans are working class than are middle class…we just all SAY we're middle class), it's quite unlikely that scrimping would suffice. If an even one-hour-a-week internship conflicted with an inflexible work schedule of a poor student, chances are s/he just wouldn't be able to do it. There are millions of families whose discretionary income is measured in tens of dollars a month, certainly not hundreds or thousands, or who just have no income at all that can be re-allocated to another need. Granted, the percentage of kids in these families that manage to complete a 4-year degree is very low to begin with (73% of ALL Americans don't get a degree, let alone among the poorer), but that's part of the point… Oh, there I got all long again. :-) I guess like others, I feel it was the juxtaposition, more than anything, that rubbed a nerve.