Largely agree. The “right” degree in the “right” field you can land a decent paying job. There’s no guarantee that this degree/field lines up with your personal interests, which will make it harder to do well in the field. There’s also no guarantee that the the degree/field will remain relevant over time. If you’re in the corporate job a fun/rewarding/engaging job is not common. Much more common is a boring, soul crushing, or grind fest type position. If the only life advice you get when you’re young is “go to college” the odds of choosing the “right” degree/field is not very high.

You can absolutely make more going into a trade. Be a plumber, an electrician, a lineman, etc. Beyond trades, America is forgetting how to make stuff and that was a major source of higher paying jobs. There are also a number of interesting shocks on the horizon - the decreasing birthrate, changes in worker aptitude, a culture that leans into instant gratification (action!) over long term results, etc.

Three things going on:

1. Schools are expensive because the amount of public funding to universities has been slowly shrinking over the past 60 years. College in the US back in th 1960s was very cheap.
2. Student loan amounts due did not change, but income based repayment options did which means people’s minimum payments went up
3. Students in the US were told college is the only career path for the past 40-50 years. This obviously isn’t true and is why we have trades shortages. In many cases, that’s also all the advice people received. There was no coaching for what kind of degree to pursue or what field to angle for, so a number of people got expensive degrees that didn’t have good career prospects. To be completely honest, I lucked into choosing engineering because of my interests and the interests of my friends

My mom qualified for, and received, federal student loan forgiveness. Yes, she had to make payments and work in a qualifying job for 10 years but due to her low income the payment amount was adjusted down.

Unless you’re in a position that qualifies for loan forgiveness, and you trust that forgiveness will be there when you qualify, income based payment rates are not a good idea. The total amount owed by my mom actually grew over the years because the amount she was paying was less than the amount of interest charged. For a bit when she was 8 years in she had a scare that she wouldn’t qualify and was shocked to find this out, despite saying “I’ve paid thousands!!!”.

Your average American isn’t very financially literat, or lives in the land of denial, which makes them easy to take advantage of.

The sticks loose a lot of their scaryness when they’re not consistently wielded. See the on again off again tarrifs on Canada/Mexico and their constantly changing scope. The lack of consistency and predictability makes it very hard for businesses to make decisions.