That's not true. If it nets a return greater than the costs, then the costs don't "cost" anything.
Think of it this way: do you think having a large college educated population is a net good or a net bad for the US?
Think of it this way: do you think having a large college educated population is a net good or a net bad for the US?
That is to say, if college (more often than not) turned criminals into saints, and turned a welfare recipient into Erdos, then it would be an excellent investment for society.
But there's no evidence it does this, and it doesn't even do a better job than high school. You can learn more on youtube than you do in college.
So until then, it's a marketing racket that transfers state money into a few private hands- and the gov't goes around collecting for decades.