Well first of all I do not equate education necessarily with college, education is a process and college is a place where that may or may not happen. My main point is that assuming large levels of debt should be approached as a business/investment decision, as should anything with such a large down side. And even if you are college material having $200,000 in debt and a degree in something that gets you a $35,000/year job is just not a reasonable thing to do. And with a debt/salary load like above college will be the best 4 years of your life, loan payments will see that it is so in the best case.
I re-read your comment, and I think that where we agree is that an education doesn't have to mean college. Also, a degree as a piece of paper is not really worth anything -- I was thinking of the experience of diving into learning, and the benefits of being in an academic environment that can't be reduced to a dollar value (at least not easily).
