And there it is.

This same phenomenon is also exactly the "leetcode phenomenon" that we see in the SE field, btw.

You could call it an Eastern culture thing, but your summation captures the why more accurately.

> being a college graduate meant that you were almost guaranteed to achieve a middle class lifestyle.

I imagine that up until the 80s and possibly even 90s this was an upper middle class guarantee.

> the difference between good and bad career choices was not that great

I have never seen it expressed this way but this is spot on. The worst part about this modern reality is that the vast vast majority of jobs that "require a degree" really should not be doing so.

And therefore shouldn't require the cost of a degree and the time of a degree. A lower-middle-class lifestyle wouldn't be nearly so bad if you had four more working years and no debt at the start...