I'm half a generation older than you. My son is in college and we have conversations about his future all the time. Conversations that reflect the reality of the job market today, and not how it was when I was getting out of college, or my parents.

Unfortunately, there are enough idiots in power who are living in the fantasy world of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps." They refuse to see the truth that in the US (fortunately Europe is quite there yet) boots are only made by a 3 companies and cost 18x more than a generation ago. You apply with 600 other people for the 5 sets of bootstraps available in your state. If you get a pair, you find out it is a physical impossiblity to pulls yourself up by them. It's a fairytale sold to the serfs to sell more boots and bootstraps.