College can be over rated as a link to a job depending on your degree. A lot of the drop outs you listed above used college as a networking tool to meet the people they needed to know to push their ambitions forward. Once they had what they needed they took off. It can be a social networking tool, a pool of knowledge, a way to shape discipline, or even a romantic tool (meet a future wife etc). If you plan to succeed with a project you can find the people you need elsewhere, and easier then ever with the internet, but you need a community for most projects to go from dream to reality. Achieving your goal destination can be accomplished easier by taking the highway then walking through the forest. Also if you have the capital to start your business, and work for yourself it helps as well though most people don't have that option from the get go.

Yes trades are a fantastic way to earn a living. Anything that harvest's or shapes the resources of this world into tools will always have a value. Though machines have diminished the amount of people required in trades. For better or for worse is yet to be scene.

As for art. People like to draw, but sometimes it takes a mentor to show you the path of discipline. Putting in the 10000 hours to become a master. A College loan could by you the time to put in the hours early in life to succeed. While in college I spent many hours walking through the art students thesis project galleries. There is a large difference between the work of a 1st year student, and a graduate, not only technically, but mainly conceptually. There is a shift from the real to the abstract in how they are able to present a concept. You can feel the growth of their thoughts.

Finally "be a jock mahn" the NCAA as an outsider is one of the greatest things about america. Athlete exploitation aside. The NCAA allows the exceptional cultivation of talent at a world class level. Its a machine that breeds pro athletes, and Olympians while generating scholarship money that pays for intelligent people to perform research that has earned Nobel prizes. Plus their is a built in plan B with the degree that minor league athletes do not receive. Its a win win win. Great invention in my opinion. Though coaches I believe should be salary capped.

Just some comments for discussion.