I don't think you read O.C. with clear eyes. Attending college will only give you the same "educational opportunity" as high school graduates of your parents' generation, because over 60% of people now attend college. You have to go college, because "everybody else" does. And since so many low-grades are attending and graduating, you need a graduate or professional degree. The fact that everybody is going to school both inflates tuition, and devalues degrees, relative to the previous generation.
It all started with federal involvement in higher ed with the G.I. Bill. A new inflationary cycle was set off in the 1960 with federal financial aid(ca. 1964), which was for racial reasons. Federal aid pumps millions of people into the system who don't have what it takes, and setting off the inflationary spiral.
So are you saying that I shouldn't go? What's your point? How is this relevant?