For two generations, a was treated as a guarantee of a better income.
The average still earns more than the average school leaver.
That average, however, hides an enormous range.
The subject studied now matters more than the itself.
Graduates in engineering, health and computing recover their costs quickly.
In several weaker programmes, s earn no more than their former classmates.
Those students still pay three or four years of and lost wages.
Employers have contributed to the confusion by demanding s for jobs that never needed one.
Some large firms have now removed that and test skills instead.
Universities argue that they teach more than job skills, which is true.
Yet students borrow money on the promise of work, not on the promise of ideas.
Publishing honest data by programme would let families choose with open eyes.
Several countries have started to do exactly that.