> Most college degrees are a dead loss economically compared to starting work immediately in a craft profession with high demand, such as plumber or welder, which is the reason I question the motivation.

I think then the core difference could be in the places we live. Here, it's common for government jobs to require a college degree. Some of those do not require a specific degree, as the position itself doesn't need it, but you still need a degree to apply.

It's also common for pay grades to be tied to how far one went academically (graduate, masters, doctors, etc.). Again, speaking strictly about government jobs, which are a non-trivial part of the economy here.

> Most of the universities I've been in have had well above the occasional one. I'm certainly not saying that has to be true everywhere, but for academic level studies it's pretty sad if the fraction is zero.

That's fair and I believe you. I worded my post in the first person to make it clear I was talking about people I met, and others' experiences may be different.