In my opinion college, regardless of the cost is very important. In Zilue (Sunny) Zheng’s Blog- College: Is It A Good Investment?, he does come to the conclusion that “a bachelor degree will strengthen job prospects” and i completely agree. If we are looking at college like an investment then I believe compared to other investments(stocks, bonds etc.)it  pays off the most in future returns, thanks to the earnings advantage you can see above.

Like any investment, the benefits from college are unknown and even risky. Some college students wind up at Goldman Sachs or Google and others wind up with $100,000 in debt and unemployed. Whether college is right (and what college is right) for every 18-year old like Sunny and I is not knowable. Whether college is failing as an institution is knowable — and it’s not

Source
http://www.hamiltonproject.org/images/uploads/thp_image_uploads/charts/EarningsEmployment.JPG