I would argue for many people the value of a college education is not so much the education. Fraternities/sororities/equivalents, for example, are often seen at some schools as more important to social mobility + marriages and more exclusive than the schools themselves– mostly in the South, but also at some other schools, say University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Not just, those, of course, really but any shared activities+clubs for practically any niche– college could be considered one of the last places where everyone has normalized openly seeking groups of friends based on common interests, to the point most throw extracurricular fairs at the beginning of every year. Not saying those don't exist after college, but finding e.g. a truffle mushroom foraging group is a lot harder in your 30s if you've never met anyone who does it before.