Without a cogent national human resource strategy based on a strong qualifications framework, young people are left with few options: university full-time, part-time with working, making a go of it without college, or the military. And in all of those scenarios, college graduation figures strongly into long-term success. The colleges and universities are a near-oligopoly. No wonder that, despite thousands of degree-granting institutions in the U.S. alone, the market behaves so imperfectly. (Add in the inflationary impact of all those student aid dollars, too, of course.) When universities were (largely) playgrounds for the very wealthy (with some exceptions for exceptional students), the regulation of higher education didn't matter much; it could be left to the schools themselves. This is the basis of accreditation. But because of our society's over-emphasis on tertiary education--because the burden is now on the individual instead of the organization--we need a better solution. We need an NHRD strategy that brings together the interests of industry, academia, and the people. College graduates have it bad. Non-grads have it worse. Nothing will change unless we change it.
I'm in total agreement. It's just very unfair to people with more mechanical abilities than sit-down-hit-the-books abilities and it's hurting the diversification of the economy. Most jobs are just in service sectors and that's not healthy economy-wise. One shouldn't have to go to college to eek out a living.