Your exactly right, college is so expensive because the education industry starting in middle or even elementary school has done a good job of convincing students that they need to go to a "good" school to get a good education and in my opinion too many parents are willing to pay whatever it takes for their kid to get that good education.  I know quite a few people who went to a $40,000 a year school and got a $12/hour job that they are happy with when they got out of school, at the same time when the ethanol industry was booming I know some guy's who took a 9 month welding program and were starting out at $30/hour.