The best thing I got out of university was exposure to political discourse. I also took some geography classes in addition to my engineering classes which were eye opening and set me on a path to having a hobby level interest in history. The focus is always on economic benefits to society of higher education in the short term: jobs and skills and such. More important is that people who are more educated will make better democratic participants, which will benefit society generally (but perhaps not the same people who are aiming to benefit from skilled workers ... )