Why do we do it?

What are colleges and universities?
Institutions that teach you in certain disciplines, and after you learn enough, you receive some sort of degree in that subject of learning.
Sounds good.
But would you trade that for a life of college payments?
Many, many years of debt.
Sounds not as good.

So, what is the real value of college?
A degree?
What does that get you?
A good job?
Well, what is a good job?
A job that pays well.
What is entailed in "pays well?"
I suppose a good bit more than minimum wage. Enough to live off of. Enough to support a wife/husband and 2.5 children (Who has ever had half a kid? Really?) Enough to live comfortably.
Who says you need a lot of money to do that, though?
Well society, I suppose. Good old society... But as mom would say, if society told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?

I think a college education is overrated. Who wants to go broke for many years for a well paying job? And in this economy, there's absolutely no guarantee that master's degree is going to land you an automatic job for life. In fact, quite the contrary.
There is nothing you can learn in college that you could not learn in a library, online, or in a class at the Y.
Not to mention that all those essays you wrote will do you absolutely no good once you're in the "real world." You'll actually have to relearn how to write. Nobody wants to read a formal essay with no contractions and a bunch of big fancy words that no one understands except your college professors.

So my question is, why do we do it?
Why do we take 4-N years out of our lives to learn things for tens of thousands of dollars per semester that is knowledge that can be gotten for free or much, much cheaper?
Granted, if you are interested in a medical field or some other such very detailed occupation, a college education can be quite helpful.
But is it really worth the money you'll spend?

What do you think? Is it worth it?