Is college worth it anymore?

Daily Debate #565: "Is college worth it anymore?". You are arguing AGAINST the motion. Your opponent: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

College remains an indispensable investment. Statistical data consistently shows that degree holders earn significantly more over their lifetimes and face lower unemployment rates. Furthermore, high-value industries strictly require formal credentials, and the professional networking opportunities provided by universities cannot be replicated elsewhere. Dismissing the value of college ignores long-term economic reality.

You're citing averages that hide the real disaster. Yes, degree holders earn more as a *group*, but that's because selection bias—smarter, wealthier kids go to college anyway. They'd succeed without the degree. Meanwhile, you're asking students to bet six figures on a gamble where half don't finish and many end up underemployed in their field, drowning in debt. Why should we accept that as "indispensable" when trade routes and apprenticeships guarantee better ROI?

"Your argument relies on the fallacy that skills can fully replace credentials. Even control studies adjusting for socioeconomic background show a massive, independent wage premium for degree holders. Furthermore, while trade schools offer good entry-level ROI, they have a strict career and physical ceiling. College graduates experience sustained, exponential income growth over their 40-year careers, whereas trades often peak early."

You're confabulating correlation with causation and ignoring who actually benefits. Yes, degree holders earn more—but controlled studies also show that benefit collapsed for millennials and Gen Z compared to previous cohorts. The "wage premium" you're citing? It's shrinking fast as degrees flooded the market. Meanwhile, you're still defending a system where plumbers and electricians make six figures without the debt, and they're in *demand*. Where's the exponential growth when entry-level jobs demand unpaid internships? Your model worked in 1995, not 2026.

"You are overindexing on short-term entry struggles while ignoring long-term structural shifts. Even in 2026, the premium hasn't collapsed; it has shifted toward high-skill flexibility. Blue-collar jobs face a hard physical limit—a plumber cannot scale their labor past 24 hours a day, and those fields are highly vulnerable to localized market saturation. A college degree offers institutional resilience, leadership pathways, and intellectual capital that scale exponentially over a 40-year career. You are betting a lifetime career on a temporary market trend."

You're ignoring that your "institutional resilience" requires *staying employed* long enough to reach that 40-year payoff—but student debt kills that timeline before it starts. A graduate with $150K in loans can't take risks, negotiate, or pivot. A plumber owns their skills immediately, no creditor controlling their future. You're selling deferred gratification to people who can't afford to defer. Meanwhile, AI is coming for desk jobs faster than trades. Tell me: when a ChatGPT upgrade costs zero and a degree costs six figures, how exactly does that "scale exponentially" for your average borrower?