My undergraduate tuition at a state public university is under 10k a year. I was severely injured in the military though, so the government pays my bill.

What you see in the news is the result of predatory practices and people not being able to use their degrees in a profitable way. There’s a lot of jokes about philosophy programs and art history degrees being a pipeline to working in fast food, because often the only way to use those degrees is to get more education (more loans) so you can teach the subject.