Thank you! That's the short-and-sweet of it. College is not merely "many times more expensive" than it used to be, and less academically enriched; it's also going to be much harder to pay for later, because jobs are vanishing. The odds have gotten longer than people realize.
I know many good people, intelligent parents, who simply won't think critically about college. It's like an article of faith. The kids have to go to college. I've tried to tell them it's a waste, and a crime (the crime I refer to being FRAUD), but they just don't absorb it. One friend of mine with many kids has told me that a school geared toward getting its graduates into trade schools is thereby inferior, while a school geared toward getting its grads into college is thereby superior. I daresay this is a common error nowadays. (In any case, all public schools stink IMO.)
My niece went off to college as an engineering major — then switched to “gender studies”. My brother is paying over $50,000 a year so that she can get a degree that allows her to say “I blame the patriarchy” with great fervor. Yippee!