It also doesn't take into account all the people who might have spent all that money and time and still not ended up with an education or a piece of paper, if t

It also doesn't take into account all the people who might have spent all that money and time and still not ended up with an education or a piece of paper, if the education were just handed to them for free. This isn't so far from home for me because I had a niece community college scholarship and then my parents' money to pay for my college, and I ended up not getting that degree. Years later, I got serious about it and took out my own loans to get a degree and a job. The first time around I had no plans and no idea what I was doing, but the second time I had a plan and a goal, and I achieved it. And I paid off my debt myself. The initial money wasn't entirely wasted, but most of those credits didn't transfer towards my degree. That was just a CC, but imagine if it was a 6 yr degree at a University instead. It'd be vastly more costly.