This has got nothing to do with &#x27;survival.&#x27; Nobody is going to starve because they didn&#x27;t get a university degree. We&#x27;re talking about relative status within a class system. More specifically menial jobs vs. nice jobs.<p>Not all education is equal but there&#x27;s no particularly good reason for the runaway costs. Quite simply, the middle class are willing to tolerate ridiculous tuition costs because it lets them stay ahead of the poor.