They deserve to be paid whatever people are willing to pay. Just as if people rack up debt in order to go on a "useless", those people should be responsible for repaying their debt.

> They deserve to be paid whatever people are willing to pay.

Not if the government is doing the paying, they don't. How much am I willing to have the government pay for me? Quite a bit more than I'm willing to pay on my own account.

well if you go to a school like NYU or USC and pay 80k a year for tuition and room and board, you're paying more for the lifestyle than the degree.

Arguably it's worth it to some people. At NYU you can get a room right on Union Square or Washington Square Park for instance.

That was a decision for the people who agreed to pay them 50k to make. They did and now it's on the purchaser, not the people who made informed decisions and didn't get themselves in debt they can't afford.

Put it this way, if you're tight on money and you max out your credit card for a vacation across the world, is it worth it? Obviously not but you can't expect tax payers to bail out poor financial decisions.