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> Nowadays college is a baseline consumer good that "almost everyone" is expected to consume

I think this depends quite a bit on your socioeconomic class. Overall in the US, only about 1/3 finish a college degree

You get the point I'm making though, right? :) If you want to sell your product to 33% percent of kids, your product has to be very easy to consume.

Are you suggesting that college is a standardized product? Most people can get through a generally non-selective state school--and, to be clear, some of those graduates have done extraordinarily well for themselves. But selective elite schools aren't selling their product to 33% of kids.

I am making a generic comment. For college to be accessible intellectually to 33% of people, the barrier to entry (amount of mental effort and desire to learn) has to be pretty low. Doesn't mean it has to apply to every student or school.

This thread was about "college" generically, not about MIT.

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