It depends on what college is really for.

Much of college is a social signaling mechanism. Well over a decade ago one of my family members, with a degree of shame had to explain to a friend why I didn’t finish my BA.

A lot of middle and upper class people use college as a way to filter people. You can argue our top universities also serve as finishing schools.

I did, after reaching six figures anyway, finish my BA. The shame is gone.

Or does it still linger as I went to a middle of the road state school. Not Stanford, Yale or even Berkeley.

Honestly I originally attended community college in part to get grant money/loans which allowed me to get a cheap apartment. As a bonus I meet a lot of cool people, read Howard Zinn.

Sure, there are fundamental questions about what college should really be for. Should the focus be on training competent employees or educating well-rounded citizens or anointing social elites or eliminating injustice or advancing the frontiers of human knowledge? Everyone seems to be coming to the debate with different unstated assumptions about that.