assumption you are making there Dave. I'd bet you good money that most of the students in debt these days just want to be in the same place their parents were, which could be broadly defined as middle class.

^{Bad decisions make good stories.}

...what can sell effectively against the strategy put forward.

"In combat one should be very suspicious of painless moral choices. When you are confronted with a seemingly painless moral choice, the odds are that you haven't looked deeply enough." ~ Karl Marlantes

girls were assumed to aspire to be homebodies, schools used to teach Home Economics - cooking, sewing, various 'household skills'. Don't know if they still do, but life has gotten a lot more complex since 1940s. Schools should teach life skills needed today - how to understand legal paperwork, evaluate finances, cope with life's inevitable setbacks and difficulties.

I recall seeing an 8th-grade exam from a 1-room schoolhouse, circa 1880s. In addition to purely academic questions most BAs couldn't answer outside their major, it included practical questions - loan interest and repayment, mortgages, business and marketing practices, etc.

We seem of have created a generation which hasn't a clue about how the world functions. Of course, that leaves them vulnerable to the first shady banker (is there any other kind) who promises them the world if they'll just sign on the dotted line.

SPK is right that they're generally not aiming to become millionaires, they just want a Middle Class lifestyle. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Middle Class may well be a endangered species and their college degrees worthless.

When I went to work for IBM in 1963, they wanted a degree. It really didn't matter much what it was - math, art history, polisci, etc. They saw it as an indicator of discipline, some acceptable level of intelligence and enough 'couth' they wouldn't be embarrassed if you became an upper-level executive (You should should be able to dine with CEOs without picking up the wrong fork?). Given those capabilities they could and did train to their needs. Now companies want an employee to hit the ground running - and to have been trained on someone else's dime. Now it's the students' dimes and all too often they went into debt to qualify for jobs that were outsourced or eliminated.

BTW: After decades of languishing, trade schools are making a comeback. You can't outsource the plumber or electrician.
They used to be cheaper than a university but I suspect they're raising their fees like good capitalists.

I'm human. I sometimes misspeak by accident.
You're a Republican. You always lie on purpose.