That is the biggest lie America sells to it's youth. Degree = (good paying) job when the reality is, most people don't work in fields that require degrees (on a practical level). Not only that but the vast majority of people who do have degrees work in fields completely unrelated to their degrees. I would must rather put that 4 years and 80k into a house than risk it on a worthless degree seeing as most people end up working at that non-degree pay rate anyway.
My ex from college completed a criminal justice degree and later went back to get a associates in accounting and she is STILL working at the same grocery store we met at in college lol.
Sure shes making bank off those 10 years exp though.