The part that very few people have mentioned here is the value of the actual education itself. I do get all the issues with the debt, the attraction of a vocational course etc etc but a part of me is really sad every time someone says 'if your degree doesn't directly lead to a career earning X it's not worth it' or 'non vocational degrees are pointless' or 'it's only worth doing a history degree or you're going to teach history or work in a museum' or similar. The logical extension of those kind of comments is that all historic/literature/artistic knowledge and academia is also pointless, and the only academic subjects that should exist or be taught at university (and by extension, schools) are purely utilitarian, practical subjects that directly relate to jobs, work/earning money clearly being the only point of existence. That, or these subjects should exist but only as the ivory-tower preserve of those so privileged or insanely intelligent that they can dedicate their entire life to arcane academia, but the majority of people should have nothing to do with them. That's a pretty sad world to me, of course some people aren't interested in these things but I do think the chance to go deep into learning about our past, about the most beautiful works of literature and art the world has produced, to learn about the languages and cultures of other places in the world, to truly understand how the universe, biology, chemistry, physics works, I don't think these things should be the preserve of a privileged few, that's a choice and opportunity I would want to be open to all.
Now you might well say that that opportunity is wasted on 18 years old which to some extent I agree with, part of me does wish we could separate out the precious, once in a lifetime chance to spend 3 years in an academic institution with the best facilities for learning and access to top-level academics and teachers, from the part about living away from home but in a safe/structured environment, making friends, learning about yourself and growing up, having fun stuff which is equally important. For that I do think in an ideal world it might be nice to have something like a national service scheme (but not military based, or necessarily so). A lot of countries that still have national service allow an option for 'civil service' where kids spend a couple of years teaching or doing auxiliary healthcare/social care roles or working in transportation or infrastructure or whatever else contributes to society, whilst living away from home in communal facilities and earning enough money to socialise and have fun, which I think could be a really useful idea for many kids who are a bit lost after school and/or only interested in getting away from home without any real desire to study (obviously you'd have to allow exemptions for special needs etc). After their service they could perhaps then make a more sensible and informed decision about further study/apprenticeship/vocational training/getting a job...
But for the work obsessed amongst you, in pure career terms I did a 'pointless' arts degree and as well as it being the best time of my life and really enjoyable and interesting learning in and of itself, I also honestly do not believe I could do the job I do today without having done it (or not as well anyway) even though my career is in no way directly related (corporate role). I hate the phrase 'transferable skills' but learning how to think critically, analyse a text or source, write clearly and succinctly, structure a argument logically, present my work engagingly whether in writing or in person, how to research something properly and thoroughly but also how and when to skim-read, how to summarise, how to problem solve, overcome things which seem difficult initially, how to work with others and how to work alone also, and this is a bit more nebulous, but how to actually properly work hard at something, personally I found O levels (as they were then) ridiculously easy and A levels relatively so but at university I really understood for the first time what it was like to be in a whole room full of smart people who will definitely outclass you if you don't put the work in, but also where/how to work and when it wasn't needed, obviously I also wanted to go to the pub a lot but also not fail my degree, so I learnt through trial and error where to be tactical, where to really do all the background reading and truly know my stuff and where I could get away with winging it. And getting a degree is a big achievement and something to be proud of, which gives confidence in itself. All things I need to use on nearly a daily basis. If you'd thrown 18 year old me into my first job I'd have floundered, even if intellectually I was as capable of doing it then as I was at 21 I definitely didn't have all the skills and means and confidence to do so. Now perhaps I would have learnt 'on the job', perhaps someone would have seen potential in me and taken me under their wing, mentored me etc. and perhaps after a rocky start I'd have got there over time without the need for the 'safe space' of uni to learn in, but I think just as (if not more) likely I'd have been written off in the early days of the job as too shy or flaky or impractical and lost my confidence totally and stayed at a much lower level for life. That's why I encouraged all my kids into uni despite the frightening debt. They're not academic high-flyers but I really think it has been worth it for them...