Schmidt really needs to segment out that "average" rise of 15 to 30 percent. 1. A few fields clearly need education, like medicine or law. Break those out sepa

Schmidt really needs to segment out that "average" rise of 15 to 30 percent. 1. A few fields clearly need education, like medicine or law. Break those out separately. 2. Getting admitted and graduating from college is a strong signal of your employability. Even if college adds absolutely nothing to your skillset, it can increase your value. (Think of getting a perfect score on the SAT.) 3. Being able to put off earning for 4 years is partly a signal of your socioeconomic status. 4. It ignores the people who try to attend college and fail. They are left with debt, the opportunity cost of wages for their time in, and no degree to show to employers. This is separate from the fact that as we have pushed more people to get better degrees, employers have simply increased their job requirements, so you need a college degree to be an office manager. A credential race is a zero-sum game for society as a whole.