Its bc G4P doesnt pay as much as it used to so everyone needs to go to college now

#1) Life is competition. With college more accessible to more of the population, not having a degree has the potential to make you the least qualified candidate for most jobs that pay grown-up wages.

#2) High school has been dumbed-down since 1960 and no longer provides basic preparation for employment.

#3) Business and industry require a more advanced skill-set than they did in 1960. Even factory work is heavily automated, driven by software and statistics. Many minimally-skilled jobs have been eliminated: much of what a secretary might have done in 1960 is now done by your smartphone. When was the last time you dialed an operator to help you complete a phone call?

#4) In 1960, air conditioning was a luxury item. The median home size has doubled. Nobody had computers, video games, or cell phones. Your health insurance provides for expensive treatments to save you from things that would have straight up killed you. The basic standard of living today is simply much higher than it was in 1960, even if it has happened so seamlessly that someone alive in 1960 hasn't noticed.

There are non-college paths to address these issues, but it should be pretty easy to figure out why life isn't the same as it was in 1960.

True but too Mr Utterthwaite "Gains" raiser gd points over debts - even tho in all Srs-ness who pays them off after, like SFA amount of ppl. Then again my course kit costs a fortune, goin on for £2OO to 3!

Acquiring a degree shows educational competence, that you can set out to achieve something and follow through over a course of years, and gives both connections and skills within your field of study (and other fields of study too). If there were 2 candidates, and the only thing setting them apart education/experience wise is a degree, then that candidate with a degree has the edge. If there were 2 candidates, and the difference was a degree and 0 years work experience, or no degree and 4 years of relevant work experience... that's a different story, and up to the requirements by HR, and the recruiter's/HR's/manager's preferences. A lot of times you'll notice that a job's description and requirements states that you should have a Bachelor's degree in the field of study, OR a number of years of work experience.

Back in the day college was less accessible to the public, there weren't as many colleges/universities, there weren't as many state-level and federal-level financial assistance programs (including loan opportunities). Increased accessibility means more people wanted a relevant degree to stand among the hordes of millions of people seeking jobs. Degrees are in general a good thing to have, and only help to showcase skillset and dedication, so of course employers respond well to it. It also enables recruiters to apply it as a filter system, that assists with filtering out the "hordes of millions of people seeking jobs".