As far as I can tell, he's not saying that one should never sacrifice... just that if you do, try to align the situation so there is a payoff for YOU down the line. Education can be one of those things.
I personally don't think that education is a self-sacrifice activity... or if it is, you're studying the wrong things. University is a gigantic opportunity to make vast numbers of valuable connections, learn lots of interesting things, develop as a human being, and even gain some valuable credentials that will make earning money easier.
Of course, it's a bit overpriced in America at the moment, but that doesn't mean that education in general is a bad deal. On the contrary.
I went to UBC (British Columbia, Canada) and the tuition cost as of today is $400+ per course. If a student enrols to 12 courses/year that comes down to $4800/year or $19.2k/4-years. Less than $5k/year is probably not too bad for a mid-tier University (e.g.: not MIT level).
Of course "not to bad" is because I compared it with our 2 weeks Caribbean escapade last year where we spent probably between $4k to $5k in total for 2 people. Or a ticket price, round-trip, flying to Indonesia that cost around $1.5k+/person during "shoulder season".
As a side note: Microsoft offers interns about $5k/month for 3-months (or 4-months, depending on your program). If interns can live frugally in Seattle/Redmond (corporate housing with roommate), they probably can afford to pay 1-2 years worth of education from one internship period.
UC must be one of the expensive schools. The average isn't too bad:
"In 2011-12, public four-year colleges charge, on average, $8,244 in tuition and fees for in-state students. The average surcharge for full-time out-of-state students at these institutions is $12,526."
That average includes some a large number of schools that many high-achievers wouldn't consider as they won't meet many other high achievers there, nor will they meet many high achieving faculty.
If an American is unable to get merit scholarships at top schools, they're likely looking at $100-200k in tuition and expenses for a BS.
