I think you overestimate the ambitions of the vast majority of state college students here in the US whose primary reasons for getting an art history degree or

I think you overestimate the ambitions of the vast majority of state college students here in the US whose primary reasons for getting an art history degree or english literature degree has little to do with english literature or art history being their path to happiness, let alone earnings. For most, they get a degree because society says they should get a degree. The value is in the paper that says they are a graduate. The educational value is highly questionable. These graduates then get many of the same jobs they would have gotten without the degrees, or those jobs where "any degree" is suitable. Basically, what they are paying for is the paper that the degree is printed on and not the education that went into it. Many of these same graduates happily live their lives once they get the paper without further pursuing art history or english literature. If they were truly interested in both we'd see huge demand for art and literature continuing education from the large quantity of art and literature grads. But this is not the case. I don't equate a college degree with a desire to pursue that subject. For many the paper that says "college graduate" and the checkmark on their resume is the value they seek because society says they need that. But I don't see many altruistic undergraduates getting the paper for pursuit of higher liberal arts goals.