The GI Bill changed everything. By the late 50s thousands of veterans had used the GI Bill to earn a bachelor's degree which usually helped them climb a few rungs up the socioeconomic ladder. Veterans and other parents saw how having a college degree created opportunity when few people had a college degree and wanted that for their children. The percentage of Americans with a college degree climbed from 6% in 1940 to 10% in 1965.

Land Grant Colleges were created by Abraham Lincoln to teach scientific agriculture and engineering. Industrial arts, home economics and a full range of courses were added after the turn of the century. While teaching professions that required mastery of advanced science and math was what Land Grant Colleges were originally chartered to do by 1950 most had expanded to teach liberal arts and all supportive disciplines as well. By the 60s each was usually a state's flagship public university.

Liberal Arts Colleges had been established earlier to teach law and religion but most expanded to teach academic disciplines like literature, theater, philosophy and history. Normal Schools were created earlier in the middle of the eighteen hundreds to prepare men and women to be teachers. By the late 60s almost all "colleges" used the title "university".

I enrolled in the University of Illinois in 1959. Then only one of ten high school graduates went on to college. College was a "Boys' School" of partying, drinking and raucous play. Only two of ten students were female with most enrolled in traditional professions like teaching. The average grade really was "C" and professors graded on the curve. After earning a grade point slightly less than "C" I was uninvited to return in 1962. The plus of this strict policy was people who "flunked out" were not allowed to continue in college long enough to earn a grade point average so low they would never be allowed to return. I was invited back in 1967.

The war in Vietnam increased college enrollment. Watching the war on television made being drafted into the army unpopular and enrolling in college was a way for a young man to avoid being drafted. He could qualify for a student deferment from the draft as long as he could show he was a full-time student making satisfactory progress. Furthermore he could continue in college until too old to be drafted. College attendance rates for young men soared. Many college professors facilitated draft avoidance by grading easier. The average grade increased to "B".

Serious women were on campus in 1967. Being in college with serious women transformed the experience from party-time to serious acquisition of the skills and knowledge needed to save the world. Seriousness worked for men like me and for serious women; Women were freed to pursue their dreams. The team that led development of the Webb Telescope Camera, that takes the highest quality pictures ever produced from more than a millions of miles above earth, and then transmits those pictures perfectly back to earth, was also led by a female scientist. Some of the most important scientific discoveries of this century were made by female scientists.

University education has become expensive. Completing a baccalaureate degree was a bargain until the late 60s. Taxpayers paid most of the expense because it was believed the societal value of a baccalaureate degree warranted making higher education as inexpensive as possible for students. That ended in the late 60s.

Conservative politicians, angry about students demonstrating against the War in Vietnam, waged an ideological war against publicly funded colleges and universities claiming they were nothing more than sanctuaries for draft dodgers and safe havens for promotion of social justice activism. They punished students by shifting the cost of attendance onto them and their parents.

Students paid the increased cost of college because they, and many parents, are convinced having a baccalaureate degree is essential to becoming a successful upper middle-class adult. This is partially true in that living on a traditional residential university campus does create social networks and does teach cultural soft skills that increase career prospects.

Community colleges are more cost-effective. They have lower tuition, shorter programs and as they teach career, technical and skilled trades and professions like allied health and nursing, law enforcement and business plus the first two years of most university degree programs.

The quality of instruction tends to be better than at four year universities because community college faculty are rewarded for teaching students instead of for publishing their original research which is what university faculty must focus on to keep their jobs. Nationwide, 41% of all American college students attends a community college because one exists within a few miles of anywhere Americans live.

Student loans are a for-profit business. Few students have enough cash to pay for a traditional residential university degree. Private and Federal loans, that a person must pay back with interest no matter what mitigating factors arise in the future, were and are easily available to students. Having benefitted from a free public education most students have no concept of what it means to be in debt so they borrow the large amounts of money needed to pay for their college education. Many graduates, and dropouts, leave college owing more money than they can hope to repay over their remaining lifetime.

Excessive debt debilitates. The student loan industry is saddling millions of students and families with debt that harms their long-term financial security and well-being. Personally excessive debt can result in delayed marriages, reduced childbearing and less entrepreneurship. Nationally, because ours is a consumer-driven economy, excessive debt limits prosperity by making it impossible for millions of well-educated Americans to purchase needed goods and services. Student debt has become a lifetime drag on individual welfare and on this nation's economic development.

Backlash against higher education is driving an unprecedented decline in enrollment. Across America the proportion of high school graduates enrolling in college in the fall after they finish school declined from 70% in 2016 to 63% in 2020. In Arizona only 46% of 2020 high school graduates went to college the following fall while 55% did in 2017.

Public opinion surveys point to several reasons why this is happening. The cost of purchasing a college degree may have finally exceeded the ability or willingness of many people to pay. The strong economic recovery has made it easy for anyone wanting a job to find one.

Not everyone needs college. There is an implied and accepted belief that anything other than immediately going to four year traditional university immediately after graduation from high school is failure and that is just wrong.

If the reason to go to college is to eventually land a good job, it may make sense to take a job that immediately provides enough income to live well instead of after waiting until after completing four years of college. It is a fact that having an in-demand quickly earned occupational certificate often pays better than jobs available to entry-level college graduates.

Gifted money is very different from money you must repay. There are scientific, academic and human care careers that do require higher education but in reality less than half of all good careers require mastery of the entire myriad of knowledge included in a four year university degree.

A few privileged students have parents or a trust fund that will pay for their education instead of a student having to borrow money to attend college. There are ways to earn a baccalaureate degree without acquiring debilitating debt. Do what makes sense for you.

Most of my professional career was devoted to helping young people, who lacked gifted money or upper middle-class social skills, identify and enter careers that make it possible for them to earn their version of The American Dream. I recommend anyone who must pay for their college education them self to…

1. Defer college until after they know what they enjoy doing that pays well enough to support them self.
2. Try different jobs. There is often difference between a job title and what a person actually does. Volunteering, or an entry-level job, will expose one to reality.
3. Seek out honest mentors who are in good stead. Elders often enjpy teaching respectful members of the incoming generation interpersonal and technical skills they have mastered.
4. Earn credentials that will qualify one for jobs that pay enough to live well.
5. Enroll in a university to complete a college degree IF that makes economic sense.

Attending a traditional four year residential university does expose young adults to career enhancing social graces, and to the fact that attractive people are enjoyable regardless of background, at high cost someone has to pay.

If the prize is to obtain the education and training needed to earn a living without taking on debt, the above path is one way to make that happen. It is possible for a person, who does not have a college trust fund or parent paying for their college education, to make their dreams come true.