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A degree holder in any field in 1970 could open many doors. Today a degree by itself could land you at Burger King. You need more education to obtain less now.

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It doesn't help that any student can get a loan to study whatever they want, often without any regard for future income potential.

Most STEM majors don't have problems finding jobs.

The days of an Art History degree being enough to qualify you as a "college graduate" for a 9-5 desk job in an unrelated field are certainly over.

Which makes sense, economically. More college graduates means more specialized degrees to fill niche jobs, which generally pay better. Bushiness have a better chance of getting someone who's degree matches the job position, and don't need to settle for "college graduate" in unrelated field.

The problem with this, from the angle of the employee, is that if they want to move from an HR position to something else they have to entirely retrain and acquire a new degree. Gets cost prohibitive quickly and puts even more emphasis on getting that choice right the first time.

I expect that the main value was in proving you could sit at a desk for eight hours a day.

Doesn't even prove that, many college degrees are easier to pass than high school.

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