re Min wage- …zero skills. Even NMS HS grads have few skills that can translate into better paying jobs. MOST HS grads lack skills to get better than minimum wage jobs, being in sports, music and academic activities plus a high gpa and test scores will not give you job skills- they prepare you for more schooling. Those who do prepare for better paying jobs straight out of HS likely are not going to college.
Even the state nonflagship U’s are expensive. Some states, such as Wisconsin, have mainly tech schools and not community colleges that substitute for the first two years of college. Now Madison’s has changed its focus, but not the majority of the rest of the state’s tech schools.