Some college degrees are worth the investment. The productization of college degrees being offered by second-rate institutions has created a race to the bottom. I see many young people graduating with little in the way of employable skills with (usually non-STEM) degrees that are merely a piece of paper that they paid tens or maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars for. I was one of those people. It took me years of grinding away at entry level jobs and self-learning in my spare time to create income growth. When I look back, I wonder why even have gone to school at all? All the skills I learned were on the job or were through knowledge I knew I needed to learn to get to the next level in my career. Could I have made better choices with my degree? Sure. If I could do it over, I would. The common narrative is what you have said above, any Bachelors degree == good. I think the reality is much different for many of us.