I mean, there's a shitload of this:
Some investments don't pay off right away. Having an educated population is one of those things.
It actually would have been better if you had paid LESS for your education, had the previous generation kept funding higher education at the levels it was funded when they attended college, for example. That would have made college more accessible for more members of your generation, it would have meant that you wouldn't have spent so much on your education, leaving more dollars in your pocket to be invested in buying a house sooner, or something like that.
That didn't happen. But I gotta tell you, "I took it up the ass, so all future generations also need to take it up the ass" is a really terrible argument.
If we want this country to have a successful future, then we should invest in the things that will make that happen: its people.
And I get it. By the time those investments truly pay off, you and I will probably be dead, or old enough that we can't appreciate or enjoy it. Such is life, especially as a member of Generation X. It's still the smart investment to make. Because if we don't, things will only get worse, not better.
Planting the seeds and nourishing the plants that will grow into trees that will bear fruit in 25+ years won't benefit me much, if any. But if we don't do it now, we won't have nearly enough fruit-bearing trees as a country when we need them in 25 years. So, it's what we need to do.
Eating all the grain we socked away for winter absolutely benefits me, especially if I think I'm old and probably won't live to see another spring. But it utterly fucks the people who are depending on that seed stock to plant the next round of crops next spring. We have a responsibility to future generations. I wish that the last generation (the boomers) had felt that way, but they didn't. That's no excuse; just because they made shitty choices doesn't mean that we're excused from doing the right, and different, thing.
But, I know that I'm shouting into the void. Me me me mine mine mine now now now. And who cares about what things look like after I'm gone. That ethos has won, completely and totally. So, enjoy for now. You'll probably be dead before your kids and grandkids can cuss you for the legacy you've left them.