In my opinion, I would never encourage someone to start going to college unless they are very certain about what they want to do with their life and what kind of career they want to build. You have to be dedicated to it. There is no other way.
I've tried going to college three separate times now for three different majors. I owe thousands upon thousands from receiving student loans and I don't even have so much as an associates degree to show for it. Because I tried these majors simply based on what the career would pay, only to find that I just don't care about what I'm learning. But.. I'm not an academically inclined person.
Which brings me to my next point. Some people are just not cut out for school. Some people don't have the willpower to focus on school and do homework and study all the time. Some people don't have the attention span for it. That's not a bad thing. But I do believe that there should be more trade schools available to these types of people so they can still get some type of certificate/degree that will get them a very well-paying job (like being a welder, electrician, etc... ) instead of making those people go to a school where they may not be able to focus as well and take classes that aren't even relevant to the field they want to enter.
There's also plenty of places where people can work that, yes, will probably hire you at minimum wage or slightly higher, but many places have room to grow and build a career if that's what you want to do. The company I work for is like that. I don't make much now, but I work hard and am already starting to see it pay off in the form of raises and moving up in the ranking system, and I've only been there for 6 months. Shoot, my boss has only been with the company for two years and he's already taking care of his own center, probably making what I assume is at least $35,000-$40,000. Which you can get with 4+ years of, say, nursing school with CNA training and Pre-nursing school included.
Really it just boils down to the individual. I have friends who have taken the standard 4 years of college and are struggling to find a decent job.