When you’re 17 and many adults in your life say “follow your dreams,” and there is a low barrier to you and your classmates to taking out 200k loans, that skepticism would be low.
There are remarkably few 17 year olds signing up for Master's Degrees. There's a tremendous difference in development between a highschool grad and a 22 year old with 4 years of undergrad.
The parent comment and the article it is referring to are specifically discussing master's degree programs. No 17-year old would be applying to these programs. Most applicants would be in their late 20s or early 30s.