Aside from the "it's expensive!" claim, I would argue that the vocational school view is increasingly driven by how large colleges behave. As access to professors declines in favor of TA/lecturer taught classes, and as the amount of red tape rises, the whole "pursuit of knowledge" claim grows slowly thinner.

It's not gone, obviously, and some places are better than others, but it seems to be getting scarcer. If your degree no longer offers a shot at the sublime beauty of understanding, I suppose it's time to start counting dollars.