Counter point to the exploding nursing job: these same baby boomers are getting old, and they're gonna need someone to care for them. Might be the logic behind some of these people.
I respond with an equally unresearched rant:
In today's colleges, passing grades are achieved as much by, if not more by, social skills as they are by just work. College students get the previous year's tests and exams from siblings, friends, and other such networks. Perhaps they are just adept at schmoozing the administration. They know exactly what to study, and that's all they study, in some cases not even learning to do the job the class is supposed to prepare them for. At best, the professor "changes cirriculum" by running a 2-3 year rotation of tests, tests which are kept on file by the plethora of fraternities and sororities inherent to the college environment. The professor just sees way too many kids with As, concludes that his/her course isn't hard enough, and assigns more busywork. Students lacking this social network, or students that want to pass the class on intellect, are left at a disadvantage.
You go to college to learn how to do your job, not how to play the freaking system.