> Any reasonably intelligent and dedicated student can go to university and come out the other end with a well-paying job.
That's a pretty restrictive filter. Currently you have to be at least two of smart, goal-directed, and curious to make it through the university system with a decent education and good job prosepcts. Many other students make it through with good job prospects but no real education because they were able to bull their way through an in-demand major program. But a lot of them slip through the cracks and end up with neither job nor education.
I agree. Ideally, tuition would be extremely subsidized and higher ed wouldn't constitute an enormous financial gamble. But in the current US system, the restrictive filter really is in the students' best interest.
It's not self-serving to tell someone "really, no, you shouldn't take out a big loan to pay for this because you're probably unprepared and will fail".
On the contrary, taking literally every student who can get a federal student loan -- regardless of your faith in their ability to get something meaningful out of the degree -- is extremely selfish!
IMO this is primarily where many universities are failing, which is an enormous disservice to their students.
Any reasonably intelligent and dedicated student can go to university and come out the other end with a well-paying job.