Supply at the top end is fixed. More and more people want to go to Harvard or Stanford, but it's not as though the supply of super-elite colleges has expanded.

What seems to have expanded most is a means of getting a generic "college degree". Compared to that time, there are a lot more low-end places which will accept people with a checkbook (or federal student loan) and a pulse.

Also, you can even acquire the knowledge associated with a degree, but without an actual diploma (MOOCs, online learning, etc).