The last year I went to school one teacher was always telling me I would be good for nothing but digging ditches if I did not pay more attention in his class, spend time I could (would?) not spare doing homework.
About 20 years later, he called a plumbing co. for stopped up drain. They found collapsed pipe out in yard. All the company equipment was busy, so I was called, to dig up the line. When the locaters truck left, he saw the name on the door of truck pulling the back-hoe.
BTW, a lot of guys my age went so college, not for education, but to avoid the draft
Many post about if you make a promise, you should keep it, like pay back what you barrowed for your education. Yes, I can see that pretty well. But what I also see is we, as a society, promised them study hard for 16+ years, and you will get a job that will support a middle class lifestyle and pay back the loans. For very many, society has broke that promise. When you see ads where the employer expects a certain level of education in the form of a degree, and is offering less pay than what I paid for a driver in the same year I can see trouble coming.
Sure, collage might teach you to run the plumbing company, let you hire 50 plumbers. But doesn't that mean that somebody must decide what 2% of the 17-18 YOs get to run the world?