> I'm frustrated by articles like these that lump all of "college" into one bucket

I have a relative who thought of college in exactly this way. She gamed the admissions process to get into a "good" college, then took the easiest classes she could get away with for the next four years - openly mocking those who took classes that required effort. A few months after graduation, she was genuinely angry and felt betrayed that someone hadn't offered her a job with an office and a high 5 figure starting salary - presumably related to "leisure studies" which was her major. After all, she had gone to a good college like everyone had told her to. She was definitely not the only one of her friends who thought the same way.