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While the entry price for luxury watches is lower than it is for luxury cars, I see a fair amount of Pateks and APs that go for at least $100,000. There are many more exclusive models and companies that I know next to nothing about that are significantly more expensive, but you can get a sense of the wider market here: https://www.hodinkee.com/packages/all-the-new-watches-of-202.... And yes, I agree that the utility of a car far outweighs that of a mechanical watch. It's also why I believe that paying $150,000 for a fancy master's degree at a world-famous school is a pretty sweet deal for the wealthy and vain.

A degree from an "elite" school costs about the same as an expensive luxury watch or car, and I'm sure that many applicants see such a degree as a prestige symbol that defies utilitarian value. Just because the author doesn't see the logic doesn't mean that there isn't any there, or that anyone is being swindled.

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.

> Regulations that disqualify programs with high debt and low earnings from receiving federal aid would force universities to reappraise master’s degrees that frequently leave graduates in dire straits.

I think this is reasonable. My non-STEM Master's program was tuition free, because my field isn't particularly lucrative, but it is considered important enough to merit large numbers of scholarships. The only programs that would be hurt are those that are neither in the interest of the student nor society at large.