[kruhft]

> start thinking about a country and society (I'm talking > about the US here) that tells you that you MUST go to > college in order to get a job, forces you into debt to do so

This is an old game played by most societies known as the 'Debtors Game' (see the book Games People Play). It's a way to force younger people to work, which is ironic today, given there is no work to have so it's just creating a new lower class of those in servitude. It's the new serfdom.