&gt; <i>it became impossible to get a middle-class job without a college degree</i><p>Not true, I did fairly well as a software engineer after dropping out of school, and having finished my degree it hasn&#x27;t made any difference in my day to day (except people think I&#x27;m a decade younger than I actually am based on the date on my resume).<p>&gt; <i>And the world does owe people a fair chance at a living. To the extent that that involves a useless college degree because people want the credential, yes, the world owes them that.</i><p>The world owes you exactly nothing.