The problem with college in my eyes is that the educational content hasn’t changed much yet the cost has soared. Calculus hasn’t changed, Basic Chemistry hasn’t changed, nothing short of bleeding edge PhD level research has changed yet college costs 3 times as much as it did 10 years ago. It might cost 8 times as much at UC schools by 2015.
Social aspects certainly are helpful but with social media do you really need to live in a dorm with other 18 year olds to establish future business contacts. Research is good use of money, it actually can produce a good return on investment in many cases.
College costs are a function of supply and demand. Give unlimited money in college loans and the demand for a “college experience” soars. Cut off those loans and the demand for education will still be there but the demand will be for efficient eduction opportunities like online classes. We don’t need fancy facilities to teach kids math, science, and history we just need kids with a computer and a desire to work hard on learning the material.