Longitudinal earnings studies show that a degree does pay for itself over one's working life, but like sturg33 has said, it's often the requirement to getting into the workforce in any capacity these days. Just saw some stats the other day that showed how college grads survived the economic downturn. Folks with two-year or technical degrees tread water during the downturn. But anyone with a high school diploma or lower simply isn't getting hired. A lot of that has to do with employers having a pool of college grads who will simply take a job and be underemployed in order to pay their college debt as opposed to not having any job, but it can be tough sledding.
And Bedell's right as well. I can't believe all the emeriti still hanging around college campuses still knocking down a fairly hefty salary while teaching one course. Administration has also become bloated. Faculties now make more for teaching less than they did back when I was in college in the '70s (1970s).
In Minnesota, we have programs that let high school juniors and seniors earn college credit either through "college in the schools" or post-secondary enrollment options. A lot of kids are at least taking a chunk out of their college costs through that. It's not a silver bullet, but it's helping a number of kids.