The author is completely spot-on that the problem arises with the funding system. It's a classic case of policymakers confusing correlation and causation, and

The author is completely spot-on that the problem arises with the funding system. It's a classic case of policymakers confusing correlation and causation, and subsequently cause and effect: They have assumed, and continue to assume, that getting a college degree _causes_ higher employability/earnings/etc., even though the data only indicates _correlation_; consequently they said "more must be better" and tried to push as many people into college as possible in a misguided attempt to cause higher wages. The truth is more along the lines that high employability for abstract (and disproportionately high-paying) professions is highly correlated with academic ability, and it is the latter that accounts for more of the overall success than the degree itself. In other words, many high-earning people would have some of those higher earnings even if they didn't go to college at all. The fact that many of those people choose to go to college is an _effect_ of that ability, not a cause.