Answering these questions can be difficult. Not everyone has the same amount of information and context. E.g., if you've never played chess against a grandmast

Answering these questions can be difficult. Not everyone has the same amount of information and context. E.g., if you've never played chess against a grandmaster, you might not know just how far you have to go. You might not know anyone who has gotten the degree you're interested in, and are therefore unable to evaluate whether it will make you "better" (you might not even know what "better" means). Cost is also contextual. Hard to predict how the economy will fare in the long run and whether your plans will be born to fruition. So, pretty difficult to come to terms with whether you value the thing! For all these reasons, knowing something about the average person, degree, college, price, etc is actually quite valuable for someone with little information. There is plenty of reason to discuss it. Also, re: "never" "always": the ubiquity of the undergraduate degree is recent. Not so easy to extrapolate...