A lot of it is because bachelor's degrees are a dime a dozen now. In fact the market is saturated with tons of people with Master's Degrees now as well.
Actually, no. It's easy to THINK that "everyone" has a college degree, but I think that's because when the topic comes up, people who don't have degrees tend to keep silent on the subject. So it's easy to think that the people who discuss these things are the whole picture.
Here's a link to a 2009 Census document:
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0233.pdf
In my state 26.5% of all adults over 25 have a bachelor's degree, and a scant 8.8% have a degree above a bachelor's. That's hardly "dime a dozen" or "saturated".
Lest you think my state is unique, it seems that Mass. is the best educated state (or at least the state with the highest number of degreed individuals). 38.2% of their population has a four-year degree, and 16.4% has a degree beyond that level.
According to the Census, the least-educated state is West Virginia, where only 17.3% of the adults over 25 have a bachelor's degree and only 6.7% have an advanced degree.
You could argue that today's 20-somethings are attending college at a higher rate, and that these numbers will increase in future years. That may or may not be true. Also, this varies within the state. For example, in NC you'd find a larger percentage of people with advanced degrees living in the center of the state near NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, the other smaller colleges, and the Research Triangle. You'd find fewer degreed individuals to the west in the Appalachians and in the east in all that flat land between Raleigh and the coast. But if you happen to live in the center of the state, you could easily
think that people "everywhere" are degreed at that same rate. Regardless, it seems that, depending upon where you live, roughly 62-83% of the population is making it without degrees. I've heard these numbers for years, and they haven't changed significantly.
I would just like to ask what the alternative to college is? Study after study has shown that college graduates have less unemployment and make more money that people without a degree. Yes, the value of a bachelor's degree has deteriorated in recent years as more and more people go to college and the economy is not expanding at a rate that will employ all of them, but at least with a college degree you have the minimal credential necessary to get your resume even looked at by and employer.
The choice isn't college or a life on the outskirts of society barely making it on crusts of bread. Many people are trained for specific jobs in the community colleges, trade schools, or through on-the-job training. For the person who is motivated but has no resources, the military provides excellent job training. Even the vocational classes in high school send kids out into the world ready to work as entry-level Electricians, Auto Mechanics, cosmetologists, etc.
The bigger point is that everyone who wants to have a career beyond basic service jobs needs
something beyond high school. Those somethings vary wildly.