I think the straw man is re-framing the "college is too expensive compared to what how it benefits your life later on and compared to how expensive it obviously could be (tuition prices outpacing inflation by extreme amounts over the last 25 years show this)" to be "college is too expensive compared to the cost of the services provided while you are there".
I don't know that I'd call it a strawman myself, but I like Ariely's writing so I'm biased. It's certainly not quite the same issue as the one being debated currently.
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I think the straw man is re-framing the "college is too expensive compared to what how it benefits your life later on and compared to how expensive it obviously could be (tuition prices outpacing inflation by extreme amounts over the last 25 years show this)" to be "college is too expensive compared to the cost of the services provided while you are there".
I don't know that I'd call it a strawman myself, but I like Ariely's writing so I'm biased. It's certainly not quite the same issue as the one being debated currently.