There's a real doubt whether college is a reasonable investment these days. The costs are outrageous and the improvement, for society, seems lacking.

If you want to be richer, smarter, and be better looking, food and shelter security might go a long ways

The math of college still holds true in the US depending on what you major in [0][1].

Most non-college goers are not attending apprenticeship programs or joining union jobs - which nowadays increasingly require a college education [2].

This isn't the 1970s anymore where you can go to the local factory and screw parts by hand - manufacturing, carpentry, metalworking, and other industrial arts increasingly require STEM fundamentals which for most students they can only acquire in some form of college (be it 2-year or 4-year).

I've seen this first hand now that I've been taking carpentry courses at my local CC as a side hobby - the union track apprenticeship program that's part of the CC expects an associates degree at a minimum.

[0] - https://www.ppic.org/publication/is-college-worth-it/

[1] - https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60832ecef615231cedd30...

[2] - https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf