Charles Lindbergh did start college at Wisconsin Madison, but dropped out. His father was an attorney. As a child, his father was a United States congressman. So I suspect money was not a barrier for him to attend college.

What you say is true. In my family, my father was the very first to go to college. My grandparents, all born in the late 1800s, averaged a 7th grade education. Even though it was free, only one attended and graduated high school. That one exception was because she wanted to teach in a one room country school. All the others thought high school was a complete waste of their time, when they could be working.