I'm not necessarily saying that colleges are the problem. Clearly the drawbacks of capitalism permeates universities all over the country. And in principle, I don't really have any objection to a broad based education approach (worked well for me), but I'd offer that its not for everyone. Some students either struggle or don't have the motivation or desire to do all of that, and where colleges succeed in broadly educating students, they often fail at training students for specific professions, i.e. plumbing, mechanics, electric, etc. Some people have zero interest in college, and pressure from parents to put their kids through college when they dont really want to isn't healthy.
It's really up to the students. If they don't feel a need to go to college, they shouldn't be treated any different from those who choose to. 2 of my kids went the college route, one is in community College after starting out at a highly competitive university and my 4th took a gap year after graduating HS and debating whether to do community college then switch to art school at some point. They've all had to make decisions and for them, money definitely factors into their decision making.