Take it from a criminal justice major who ended up going into student loan debt because I felt like I just downright “needed” to get it from a university. NOTE, I’m not saying don’t go to college, I’m saying unless you are majoring in one of the fields I named, you’d be better off enrolling at a JUCO or Community College. Now if you have a scholarship then that’s a different story. I was originally in a community college but ended up transferring because that school only offered associate degrees (my other excuse for leaving lol). College as a whole is way too fucking expensive to begin with but I feel as though it would be more worth it if you were in the majors I mentioned. I do realize that there are many graduates who have majored in other fields and feel content and that’s great.
I would argue that there is intrinsic value in education and that you can’t measure it purely in terms of dollars in vs dollars out. Perhaps that means that education in a country where it is very expensive is a luxury. But I would also say that if you go to a four year college and feel like you got nothing out of it than a piece of paper, that’s on you.