When the government guaranteed student loans, it removed the risk for colleges. This allowed them to hike tuition prices unchecked, knowing students had access to funding. The resulting flood of graduates has also made a college degree less of a differentiator in the job market.

Top universities have abandoned their public service mission, instead acting like luxury brands that manufacture scarcity to increase their prestige and pricing power. They could educate many more qualified students but choose not to.

The unemployment rate for college-educated young men has surged to 7%, matching that of their peers without a degree. This parity indicates that a traditional degree's value in securing entry-level employment is eroding for this demographic, challenged by AI automation and increased competition from experienced workers.

In an AI-driven world that values tangible skills, the traditional college model is increasingly irrelevant. Universities force students to borrow heavily for required courses that offer no career benefit. This system creates a massive debt burden for irrelevant knowledge, making skilled trade programs a more logical and profitable path.

Recent focus groups reveal profound bleakness among Gen Z job seekers. Armed with degrees and debt, they face a market of endless applications, ghosting from employers, and a sense of powerlessness, which fuels their negative economic outlook.

When society produces more highly-educated graduates than there are suitable jobs, a large group emerges whose high expectations are unmet. This "elite overproduction" creates a sense of grievance and entitlement, making them receptive to socialist ideas that promise to rectify perceived injustices.

Despite earning degrees, 45% of recent college graduates find themselves in low-wage jobs because they lack marketable skills. This suggests a significant disconnect between traditional, time-based higher education and real-world employer demands, turning many expensive degrees into mere "certificates of attendance."

The primary function of a college degree is to signal desirable employee traits—intelligence, work ethic, and compliance—rather than to impart useful skills. As more people get degrees, the signal weakens, forcing students into an expensive and wasteful 'credential race' for ever-higher qualifications to stand out.

Debating AI's impact on education is a distraction from the real crisis: the business model of elite universities. By creating artificial scarcity and raising tuition faster than inflation, they have become a "corrupt cartel." The solution isn't technological, but simple: admit significantly more students.