Kelsey Carlson has no student debt. Then again, she doesn't have a college degree or a career path.

One of three daughters raised by a single mother in Forest Park, Ms. Carlson always knew she'd be on her own for college. But between nannying for up to 10 families at a time, bartending at Miller's Ale House in west suburban Lombard and putting in another few hours a week as an office assistant at a drug treatment center her mother co-owns, Ms. Carlson became so stretched that she no longer had time for classes at the College of DuPage. She dropped out last spring.

Though she plans to finish school once she's more financially settled, she also sees that a degree doesn't guarantee much. "My sister's 22; she went to Illinois State," Ms. Carlson says. "She and her friends are all (waiting) tables or they're nannies. That's the discouraging part. Do I go back to school or do I keep doing what I'm doing? It's so hard to get that piece of paper, and it doesn't necessarily guarantee anything."

Meanwhile, the chances that she'll be promoted into management at the bar are solid. Unable to afford a one-bedroom rental in the city, she moved in with her boyfriend, a recent Robert Morris University grad who shares a Bridgeport house with three other guys. Living with four men isn't exactly ideal, but it means Ms. Carlson pays just $240 a month in rent. They also do without Internet and cable service. The upside: Because she lives so frugally, she saved enough money to take out a loan and buy a 2013 Chevrolet Cruz.

"I used to live paycheck to paycheck," she says. Now "I go to the bank and I'm excited."