The selection effect is real, but there is very real value in a university education, too. The author was raised by a single mom and did not have amazing grades

The selection effect is real, but there is very real value in a university education, too. The author was raised by a single mom and did not have amazing grades in high school. He's watched the door to the middle class that he walked through slowly close over the past 30 years. He's not just talking about Harvard. State schools have become much more selective and expensive, too. The difference between this and printing money is that money is intrinsically worthless, and a university education is valuable for the knowledge and skills it imparts and the social capital it builds. Controversial perhaps on HN, but true.