>since so many people had it it wasn't a status symbol anymore, so that wasn't enough to get a good middle class job
This makes it sound like a degree is worth less today than it was in the past, which is not true. The income and wealth gap between college degree holders and non-degree holders is higher than at any point in history, and it grows bigger very year.
Most degrees have an unemployment rate of about 5-6%. That's not bad, but it does mean that there are over 2 million college-educated Americans who got degrees and can't find jobs. This minority is much more visible today; they get lots of press coverage and talk about their struggles through social media. This makes it seem like things are getting worse, just like how people tend to think that crime is getting worse, but the reality is things are getting better and college becomes a better deal every year.
>Then we were told what we really need is nurses. So folks went to nursing school in droves.
And generally this paid off, since nurses are in demand and make well above the median salary.
>Then we were told to go into STEM.
Which is decent advice, with a caveat. Most people with STEM degrees could easily pivot into something highly profitable like software development. What people weren't told is that it's difficult to land a profitable role doing research/pure science, especially if you don't have a PhD.
>And then a bunch of people were told they shouldn't have gotten those degrees and they were worthless.
Which is mostly incorrect. Even folks majoring in stuff often touted as "worthless" like art history or gender studies still tend to do better than people without degrees. The catch is that you might end up working a business analyst or a project manager instead of an Egyptologist or whatever you actually majored in. The biggest offender here is Psychology: many new graduates are shocked to discover that no, you cannot actually become a psychologist with just a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, nor are there profitable research opportunities at that level. A psychology degree still looks great on a resume if you're applying to be an HR representative or something, though.