>Degree or not, success in today's environment is highly dependent on personal initiative.

This is the one thing we agree with. Now, I don't know the true solution here, but I will admit that even if I didn't end up in my degree's career that college was at least a good stepping stone to learning how to learn. I simply approach stuff differently in college compared to high school.

Maybe that speaks to how ill high school prepares students for the real world, but at the same time it isn't exactly wise to go 0-100 in living in a parent's supervision to trying to make a living at 18 year old with nothing to your name but a high school diploma. Not even direction in life, for some people. I feel we need some intermediary here where you can break off into independence without also worrying about next month's rent when the month prior you weren't even allowed to consent to many life factors.

And I say this with a family history where my parents, and their siblings were all more or less kicked out at 18 to join the military. Don't know if THAT is the path I'd recommend to the current youth either.

> Any less wise than sending them to some diploma mill and expecting them to make a successful career out of it once they are saddled with debt?

Come on. Did you even read my comment that you replied to? I said point them "towards a decent but unprestigious state school," that is not "some diploma mill ... [that will leave them] saddled with debt."

> Student loan debt is approaching $2 trillion with over 22 million borrowers. Everybody and his brother has bought a degree which makes one not all that special in the current economy.

What you don't seem to understand that "everybody has it" != no longer needed. It just means that it's table stakes instead of a guarantee of success.