Nowadays by not going to College it actually hurts you because so many other people are going to college....so yes even a job managing a Mcdonalds may be a college grad vs someone who isn't, and they will go with the College graduate most of the time...
Very true. At least in some disciplines, a bachelor's is the new high school diploma, and a master's is the new bachelor's.
This doesn't have to be true. If you go to one of your state's public universities, you'll probably pay no more than half of that for tuition. If you need to cut costs further, you could go to a community college for the first two years and then transfer. Community college shouldn't cost you more than a few thousand a year for tuition.