How's it dead end if it maxed my IRA and 401k contributions every year while still allowing money to toy with in the market...?

It's free housing and massive money to break you out of your hometown. You don't have to do it for life, but you open a lot of doors, meet a lot of people and are granted a free ticket out of a shit town so you can breathe and figure out if you want to learn coding or how to fly an airplane.

I chose airplanes. Wanna know what it feels like the first time you pull the yoke and leave a runway? Sounds pretty cool doesn't it?

You can do it.