Note: After writing this I noticed that it has nothing to do with the topic itself, but I felt that I’m posting it anyways.
I study master of science, computer science at a university in Sweden. I don't want to go into the whole, “what country is the best discussion”, but when it comes to the cost of education you can't even compare US to Sweden.
In Sweden, as you probably know, we have something called CSN. They give me, for free, 291 euro each month as long as I'm studying. Because I moved out from my parents at the age of 18 to study in another city the free 300 euro each month is not enough and I have to take a student loan from CSN. This loan has a interest of 0.34 percent starting 2017, which to be honest is next to nothing. It's the cheapest loan you will take, ever. Hell, if you live at home you can take the loan, invest it smart, use the return to pay the interest and actually make money of the loan.
As in books and literature. Yes, you might have to buy books. What I do, if I actually buy a book, is to just sell it to next year's students early with little to no loss.
The grass might not always be greener on the other side, but when you can move away from home at the age of 18 and live alone in a new city without getting any money from your parents and the only requirement is that you actually study? Yeah, that grass is pretty green.
Worth noting is that I have no information about how you get money to your studies in the US, but I know that tuition fees is a lot higher than a book cost is here in Sweden.