Most of the “return on investment” value of a college education goes to “people who come from affluent families and attend selective institutions”.

One-third of college students will never complete their degree:

70% of students currently enrolled in a two- or four-year college can expect a “negative outcome in terms of failure to complete or graduating into underemployment.” That’s also the cohort most likely to struggle—and invariably fail—to pay off their student loans.

Source: Student Loan Forgiveness Means a Rethink of Higher Education – Bloomberg

(An uncompleted degree may add some value for some students but we have no way of knowing the specifics.)

The sales pitch for everyone to go to college is a lot like the sales pitches of used car salespeople: in other words, it’s often a scam.

Pushing everyone to attend college has led to excess demand for college, in a business whose operations have changed little in decades. The result is university prices have risen far faster than almost any other goods or services.

Source is University of Michigan emeritus professor of economics Mark J. Perry. He has apparently updated this chart to the present, but this is the one I quickly located.

In the 1970s, when only about 20% of adults had a 4-year degree, a college education added much value to new workers. Today, when 39% of adults have a 4-year degree, and the costs of obtaining that degree are vastly higher than in the past, the value proposition begins to fall apart. As Bloomberg reports, a majority of students today will not see the return of investment that a college degree used to provide.

This is the root cause problem, not student debt issues.

Coldstreams