I had some routine dental work done recently; some of my teeth were drilled out. It is a complete mystery to me why we think that a college level education is required for the man holding the drill. My body is very important to me, but it seems a tough sell that years of higher education would give a better outcome than years of, say, straightforward practice. I want a competent dentist, but their education isn't worth as much to me as the steadiness of their hand and their willingness to be gentle with my poor mouth.
In theory, any job could be done better by a more educated worker, but we could break it up into generalists and specialists like we do with electricians and electrical engineers. Save the education for people who deal with unusual problems.
This part of your comment is completely out of touch with reality. Nearly every position that pays over $40k/year requires college credentials.
Which means, most of these positions are in fact 'tails' of the distribution, they don't really exist, they are a net loss vs positions that pay less but do not require diploma. Because more people are getting diplomas than there are jobs really requiring it. If employers CAN get away with requiring a diploma for a position which doesn't really need it - why not doing it? At least it guarantees getting an employee which will be more loyal as he has to repay college debt so needs stable income. And they can get away with it because people falsely believe that college is a path to success and burn enormous money and years of life there.
Why not just allow everyone with a medical dimploma from a 1st world country to come, get GC at the airport, and get to job the next day? What are the downsides, except liberals around the world nagging again that U.S. were robbing them?
All that said, I agree with your sentiment, college is for many people completely unnecessary.
As per the article, we as tax payers are on the hook for the debt that will be defaulted on, so the fact that this system has spiraled out of control will hurt all of us.