Actually, that was true 40 years ago too, from what I have observed.
America is knee-capping it's economic prosperity by not making college and university degrees that are realistically affordable (especially if those students want to purchase a house at some point before their hair turns gray). The sad thing is though, a lot employers won't talk to a job candidate unless they have a Bachelor's degree (which, from my experience, is the degree that opens up the most opportunities in the workplace). Often this is because of requirements that are outside of the employer's control, like government contracts or grant requirements. Now, occasionally you'll hear some Genius Entrepreneur filling up students and prospective students with moonshine talk about how they don't need a college education to succeed. I will admit that that may be true for some people. But, like I said, most of us are Not the Genius Entrepreneur types that would likely have succeeded at whatever they would do anyway! (And besides, if you dig into a lot of their origin stories you'll often find that these types often had considerable advantages that most rank-and-file people don't have, such as family wealth and/or Leonardo Da Vinci level intelligence.)
Take my wife for instance. She is highly intelligent - she got a 98 on her ASVAB for heaven's sake - but an employer I worked for around the time that she considered going into the military would not even talk to her until she had her BA. Luckily she did complete her BA and has gone to be very successful.
Still, though, how does America expect many in its workforce to be college educated if they won't make it realistically possible? And employers wonder why there is a labor shortage! (I know there are many reasons for that, but still ...).
And don't even get me started on internships! They often basically boil down to not paying for the cow and wanting to get the milk for free w/ a flimsy promise that for the "honor" of working for a certain company and/or person the intern will acquire some lucrative benefit. Meanwhile, there are living expenses that still need to be paid! (Don't get me wrong - internships can be valuable in terms of networking and getting real-world experience that they may not be able to get otherwise. But a student and/or job seeker must be very careful to vet all opportunities since there many unscrupulous employers that are more than happy to take advantage of them. Hint (and this applies to job listings as well) - if they communicate that they are looking for "all college majors" it is more than likely a scam, soft-skills notwithstanding).
