It's a cultural issue more than anything, I think. Growing up, you're told that you need to go to college if you want to be successful. In high school the gifted kids are pushed into college prep courses. When you start applying for colleges you are told to find a college that "fits" and a major that you're interested in, so you can build a future that makes you happy.

All the parents and teachers that you trust want you to be happy. Most of them don't care to inform you that the choices you're making now might leave you destitute for a decade. Most of them probably didn't know, because when they were growing up a college degree by itself was enough to thrust you into the upper middle class (supposedly).

Personally, I didn't get it until my first year of university, when I got a financial report on my $7500 of debt, realized that by graduation it would be $30,000. I looked up some salary numbers and thought about it for literally the first time in my life. That's when I decided I needed to change majors from chemistry to compsci, and I was damn lucky that carnegie mellon was where I chose to study chemistry.