You recognize that most of these folks did seek advice from school counselors, parents, and other adults who grew up in a time when working summers could pay for your tuition, and having a degree was a ticket to ride to a better life? Maybe their opinion might be skewed by their personal experience and not informed by modern reality, thus leading folks to take the leap on the assumption that everything would work out down the road? To say nothing of the fact that most college freshmen are still years from having a fully developed adult brain. Blaming up-and-comers for going to college and assuming debt to do it, because how do they know any better until they've learned the hard way, might make you feel better about telling them to pound sand, but it won't do anything to improve an economy that is going to tank under the strain of such wide-spread debt. Every used car purchased instead of new (which assumes they were going to be able to afford a new car in the first place) is a new car's worth of churn that doesn't happen to the economy. That slowly but surely will make itself felt in older generation's retirement accounts, and future generation's opportunities.

You argue that the only thing keeping people from pursuing "useless" degrees is that there's a cost penalty involved, but that's literally what we have today. Crippling debt must be assumed in order to take these courses, and people still do it. So I'd argue your "we have to make it cost something or people will take classes I don't see value in" position is on shaky ground.

It's strange. Having read this article from top to bottom, I've come to the realization that I can't make up my mind whether the author is down with the explanation the scientists gave them. Charming write up, though.