I went to a vocational school high school in a underprivileged community where college was not reality for most students( < 30% of student went to college). I dropped out of CS in undergrad because I lacked basic math skills most students have. My career path was IT analyst -> project manager -> data scientist -> applied AI. It took about ten years of self study, work, and some luck to get to where I am today. And I am nowhere near done learning and growing (hence going back for a phd at 32).
For many their paths will be non-linear especially if they come from underprivileged backgrounds. I had a colleague who went back to do his undergrad at 29 after work 10 years as line chef and found success in his mid thirties.
It's problematic that we conflate price for value and that the purpose of college is career training. Ideally college would be free or heavily subsidized like it is in many other countries.
A strong liberal arts training is valuable in producing a more educated populace. For me, coming from a small community, my biggest fear was being stuck working at my terrible high school. The main value of college for me was imagination. Being able to imagine myself not confined by my circumstance was far more impactful in my life than many of the marketable skills that I picked along the way.
Would you say that intelligence is ...artificial?