It is a shame you only offered two choices.
Much of higher education qualifies as a 'scam', altho not really for the reasons you list. The disconnect between who pays for the classes and who 'benefits' from the classes is the most 'scam'y part of the system.

This is something I have some experience in. I have attended two state universities and two private.

The first was a four SUNY liberal arts school for my teaching degree in the late 80's. It did have a small degree of students who did not graduate, not because it was too intensive but because they got distracted and lost focus. Was it a scam? No but they did graduate many students that really had no hope in getting jobs in their chosen field of study. Perhaps that is a scam.

The second was two year SUNY tech school where I double majored in Hort. and Landscape design in the 90,s. It had a fairly large drop out rate because most of the students there thought it was going to be grade 13 and 14, it was not. This school was not a scam, every student I know who attended is gainfully employed and very satisfied with their investment. Many went on to larger universities to further develop their skill and are leaders in their chosen fields.

The third was a result of the prior as I was able to attend Cornell to further my Horticulture studies. This was a very serious experience and not at all a scam.

The latest was a small private technical school that I attended to retool my skills (Accounting). I took it very seriously as I needed a degree ASAP but many others were scamming the system. They were able to graduate but to be honest had not really learned anything that would assist them in the future.

I would say most of the time it is not the actual university that is the scam but the how the students use the opportunity to attend. The only exception are some of the BS programs such as gender studies etc. but then the students should know that there are no uses for those degrees anyway.

Depends what your studying, STEM it's not a waste. Gender queer dance theory your F'ed

Not necessarily, some fault may indeed be on the student, so I'd say the door could swing both ways so to speak.