How many decades do you think we should have subsidized making buggy whips after the advent of the automobile?
The difference is, some carriage companies (example: Studebaker) were able to convert over.
Besides, at the time the automobile was introduced, we had an entirely different economy, and also, during this time, not many people went to college. Even old money families had often never sent a single person to college. My ancestors were part of the planter class and they didn't begin sending people to college until after WWI.
We have a different economy today, and one thing component is, if you want to be a success in life, it's a good idea for you to get a college degree.
The reason people with degrees are paid more is because they worked to get that degree, and they worked so they could have that higher salary.
It's not fair to arbitrarily put people who worked hard on a tight rope like that, you have to give them time to adjust.
We are to this day still subsidizing and storing in the National Helium Reserve a strategic stockpile of emergency helium to fill the U.S. Navy's fleet of attack dirigibles.