Sorry to hear what happened to your friend. I must admit, I would not go into debt to go into college. This is a problem in the US. However...instead of feeling sorry, let's analyze the situation:

"After a semester she realized that was the wrong decision, because she’s not really into business.[...] So she just dropped out."

Not a smart move at all. Could have finished college and then get a job that would pay her enough. Then save and start something else. A smart person would know, don't you think?

"she had to pay a bunch of money to get her teeth fixed."

This has nothing to do with college but with the health-care-system in the US. It's horrible but tells us nothing about college being a caste system.

All this talk about people who "have potential" but don't do anything with it except playing chess or becoming the World Champion in Pokemon... Not sure if there really is "potential" and nobody could tell.

There are solutions to this:

- Be self employed.

- Start without having credentials.

- Get clients, deliver results.

This is not the best solution to the problem, I am aware of that, but maybe the problem isn't college?

Maybe learning to make good financial decisions could prevent such outcomes? Not sure.

But blaming what you can't change won't change anything.