There are a hundred variables. Sometimes poor people get lucky. Some are pretty and have doors opened to them. Some truly are exceptional. And many are unlucky.
Sweden for example has no minimum wage and fully voucher-ized education which are anathema to the US left.
So I'd disagree there aren't things holding students in the US back, they just hold the entire DNC captive.
Sweden also has a flat tax. They depend on high income tax across the board unlike the US, but also have higher institutional trust/social cohesion (easier with a low pop) and frankly better governance overall.
Culture matters. It's why southern Europe is not like northern.
There's no quick fix that can be cherry picked to make the US like Nordic nations.
students in the us often have to take on a tremendous amount of debt to get one.
You seem not to like the word “Socialist.” I think it’s obvious that we as humans should help each other if one of us is doing not well due to misfortune.
For me a country should be evaluated on how much it cares about the ones that don’t have power (homeless, immigrants, elderly etc.)