One big boost in my life came from a state-wide college tuition grant program, that was available in the late 1960s & early 1970s. It was based on financial need (my father had died when I was 14 and my mother was making minimum wage), and you only needed to maintain a passing grade-point-average. It allowed me to attend a private Jesuit university for 4 years, which I could never have managed otherwise. Unfortunately, that program fell victim to budget cuts some years ago.

So, I did not have a failed marriage, nor did I have to raise children in a single-parent household making minimum wage. I've been very fortunate.