This is a really great, well thought out and clearly presented point and it makes a lot of sense.

The original, year 1 YC program was targeting people who genuinely would struggle to get $6K (at the time) because it was mostly aimed at students.

When I was a student I couldn't afford text books, so the idea I could get $20k together by consulting was laughable.

Now I'm positively ancient the consulting route isn't too hard to do.