Telling every kid to go to college was one of the worst things public education ever did. It created life crippling debt for people who never needed to have it to begin with.
I don't think its all a racket, but a huge chunk of it is. College is generally a waste of massive amounts of money for a lot of people who never end up using much of anything. Trade school and community colleges are better options in many cases.
A large chunk of my career was spent in fields completely different from my major field of study.