You seem to be misunderstanding. I agree with your assessment, but EVERYONE tells kids they MUST go to college. No real guiding on degree programs or skill sets, just “go to college, get a degree, and you’ll be OK.” It’s stupid, it’s counterproductive, but that’s how things are right now. I don’t know what it will take to break the cycle.
Can prices for college ever get too high before parents, students, and companies decide that it’s just not a great idea anymore?
On the large scale: At some point the credit market for tuition will either crash, or foresee a crash and put on the brakes by demanding some indication that the loan will in fact be paid off. Alas, the federal government just took over that market, and is guaranteeing those loans with “if the borrower defaults we’ll just extract the remainder from taxpayers”, so there will be a crash.
On the individual scale: At some point those signing for loans will go “there’s no way I can pay this off, so I’m not going to sign.” Those will succeed, and pass on the viable meme. Those who don’t will self-destruct, perhaps over the course of several generations (”sins of the fathers punished unto the third or fourth generations”) and burn themselves out of the loan system.
Cultural flaws are like disease, rendering the whole ill until either the immune system eradicates the cause and heals, or the patient dies.