Here’s the key point you are missing, college has little to do with parnassah. Mostly they just jam liberal arts down your throat.
The famous stat that grads make on average 1 million more than non is an average, therefore useless. It combines david rockefeller and the homeless guy.
the median figure is about 5,000 usd per year over your whole career, which is easily explainable by brains and work ethic.