Specifically, I am talking about what is a bachelor's degree in the US--a 4-year-degree that offers you few special, unique, or licensable skills, unlike a masters' or doctorate or trade schools.

In my view, this field of higher education is mostly about gating access to a small job market--the supply of jobs is so limitted that people are (decreasingly) willing to go into debt for a crab-in-bucket's chance at some employment. It also perpetuates class divisions, more now than it did when getting a degree was a real ticket paid non-physical labor.

It's also a highly extractive industry in its own right--price of higher ed has outstripped inflation for over 30 years while professors are being paid less. People are entering there working lives deeply in debt. This is a systemic issue.

The answer, I think, is not simply gov't paying for tuition because that does not deal with runaway costs.

Higher education has a priveleged place on the left, since its where many of us gained a broader worldview. But setting that aside, the institution itself qua institution is deeply problematic in the current system.

My only unique contribution to the topic--which I have not heard anywhere else--is removing higher education as bona fide occupational qualification without justification as to specific content or skills w/o other options to demonstrate mastery. That would leverage current law (in the US) to dethrone higher-ed supremacy, because we know most jobs that require or prefer a bachelor's degree don't practically really require an education that takes 4 years.