[Rechtsstaat]

I believe the point is more that there is a growing sentiment that colleges are a waste of money, and that—purely for learning a trade—you're better off doing a bootcamp or self teaching.

That might be true, but apart from education, colleges offer lots of opportunities to make friends without explicitly trying to do that. You can make friends being self-taught, but you'll have to be proactive in going to social events because you won't be surrounded by like-minded people by default.

[AlchemistCamp]

People have made friends without college for millennia. I also don't see college as uniquely powerful in that regard. A compelling case could be made that college is less likely to lead to deep bonds than serving in the military is, for example.

I'd also say that things like coding bootcamps or intensive language schools are fantastic places for making friends—largely due to the greater number of hours per day and the greater intensity of effort involved than in a typical college experience. Intense startups can also have this feature.

We can agree that teaching yourself, by yourself, at home being less likely to widen your social circle, though!