eclipse: for better or for worse, currently, in both the frum and secular worlds, a BA is the modern equivalent of a high school diploma. There are certainly jobs you can get without a college degree (just like there have been jobs you could get without a high school diploma) but there are fewer and fewer as time goes on and the market becomes saturated with people who have higher qualifications.
True, this is a self-imposed problem to an extent (if people just stopped getting college degrees it would probably vanish) but that’s not the point. This argument has has been made in favor of trade and technical schools- at this rate, if we need to keep on being competitive, then you’ll soon need a master’s degree to become a cashier at Burger King.