Going to a university is very expensive, the top ones sometimes charge as much as $50,000 a year. Fees at the top schools are expensive, I know how much why parents pay and it's quite a lot. If my Dad wasn't very successful in the stock markets the fees would be quite a drain.
You don't need to go to college to be successful. It is possible to educate yourself through self-study. Many people have done so. There are plenty of resources available to the poor: Public Libraries and Internet.
Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Woody Allen, Andrew Jackson, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell, Lawrence Ellison, and Henry Ford all dropped out of college. Lack of a post-secondary education didn't stop them from becoming successful. They educated themselves through experience and self study.
If your born somewhere without good public schools and your parents have very little money then you are at a major disadvantage. If your parents are really poor, then you might not get education altogether.
Public education at the primary and high school level is free. Being "really poor" does not prevent you from getting a primary and high school education.
Or internet usage, so that way of studying is out.
No it isn't. There isn't a public school or library in the country which does not have internet access.
If someone in that position is genetically incredibly intelligent and an unbelievably hard worker, then yes, they'll probably be successful. But what about average people. If only 1% have the skills and willpower to do something, then should most people be expected to be able to do it?
If poor people don't have the willpower to become unpoor then that's their own fault. They suffer from a lack of ambition and persistence.
Lack of skills is not an excuse. Again, there are public libraries and the internet.
There are many smart people who aren't to rich because they didn't have the money to go to college and get a degree and don't have the in the top 0.01% level intelligence and drive to do something like start up a massive business or something.
Brittany Spears isn't in the top 0.01% level of intelligence. You don't have to be Einstein to become successful. Brittany Spears took a mediocre singing talent and turned it into a multi-million dollar enterprise. She had the cunning and wit to make the right connections, the persistence to push herself forward, and the ability to learn from her failures.