Such a muddle with so many causes and effects.
I won't double down on the issues with debt availability driving up costs, administrative bloat, the country club college environment, decline in state funding, or disconnect between minimum wage and college prices. Yes to all of those.
A few additional thoughts:
1 - Knowledge economy
I do think part of the increase in demand is that the economy has changed substantially. In the 1970s/80s there was a greater share of the economy accessible through blue collar, high-school + trade/experience work than there is today. Those more trade-centric paths are definitely still options -- indeed there is a scarcity -- but more jobs are at desks, lab benches, and in services than previously. Education carries a premium to the extent it creates access to better outcomes. And it does ... so long as you don't spend your time/money study the negative effects of ancient sancrit eroticism on modern farming.
2 - Need for White Collar Trade Schools
The flip of the above is that we've yet to see the emergence of proper, white collar trades schools. My local school district will send you to trade school for shop and barber school. But you can't spend the last two years learning python? Learning to be a pharmacist tech? Maybe even basic nursing support? 18 year olds can take blood pressure and learn to give basic injections.
You don't need to study economics and Philosophy 101 to write code. This is re-enforced by companies requiring college degrees for even the most basic semi-technical roles.
You should be able to learn to write code for $10k and get a job doing it.
3 - Parental Denial
This conversation about college costs has been going on for nearly 30 years. Parents stick their heads in the sand, fail to save, and then fail to have honest conversations and plans with their kids. College is expensive. Retirement is expensive. You have to save and plan or you will be in a world of pain at some point. And I believe that the average student loan burden is below $35k and the vast majority is below $50k. For most people, its a car payment. Get on with it.
4 - Entitlement
After shopping for colleges with his daughter my brother summed it up as: "College is the new family trip to Disney World." There is a level of entitlement that everyone has the right to go to a big university, study whatever they want in order to be fulfilled, and then not have any burden in paying it off. Sorry ... but no one has repealed the rule that there are no free lunches.
And this obsession with Ivy leagues is self-destructive. Its like arguing about why everyone doesn't get to own a McLaren. Most people drive Toyotas and live good lives. Truthfully, my kids could have had educational McLaren's. They are both in public universities and appear to on great paths.
Ultimately, its about personal responsibility in a situation that is being made more difficult by societal priorities.
My $0.02 ... maybe more like $0.05 this time.