For the record, I’m not American nor live in the US, but I have a 19-year-old son who started attending the University of Chicago this year, studying economics. Just the tuition itself is $70k. My husband and I are lucky enough to be able to afford it - I still believe it’s an outrageous amount of money to attend college.
If we can reason and communicate effectively then we’re much harder to exploit.
Education is priced above the balance of supply and demand because in wider scope it’s more profitable to deny access.
Denial of access to education is a very good way to leave many people with violence as their only practical means of change.