Their Baby Boomer parents and Greatest Generation grandparents put in place policies that sent the price of a college education through the roof by loaning money to anyone who asked for it while at the same time requiring a college degree for every job that paid over ten bucks an hour. Any job that didn't require a college degree was either shipped overseas or replaced by imported slave labor who worked for peanuts.
There's blame to go around.
You can thank the Warren Supreme Court (via the 1971 Griggs vs. Duke Power decision) for forcing companies to use a college degree as proof of competency, as it ruled that intelligence testing as a condition of hire was discriminatory.