The Education Industrial Complex is milking that desire for all it's worth... (and it's worth a lot of cash). They'll take kids in who can't read or write but who qualify for student loans... lots of big fat studen6t loans. Then they stick the kids in remedial classes knowing 90% of them will be unable to keep a (real) college level job if they ever do graduate.
You've taught at the college level - you understand what's going on...
It was never a full time gig with me; I was just an adjunct type who taught for the fun of it and I don’t do it anymore. But you’re right, its a money extraction machine that most businesses would envy. Every year the costs of college go up like clockwork and the schools grow larger and larger with more and more administrative staff. Lots of liberals teach so they love the system/complex that provides them with secure jobs, outsized salaries, and great benefits.
Meanwhile, the kids pass through through the system as if on a conveyor belt and most are sold the notion that any degree will ENTITLE them to a good job. Its a deceptive system but a very lucrative one for those who run it.