> College professors make a lot of money.

Wrong. Virtually all of them that I've ever known are making about half what they'd be making if they were using their advanced degrees and training in a non-educational field. When I was doing my master's degree part time, I was employed in mainly secretarial work, and I was making at least as much per hour as any of my lecturers, who had doctorates and were all noted researchers in their fields of study.

There are only two reasons why anybody becomes a professional academic. One, because you want to teach. Two, because of the scope for research and publication which the job allows. The latter reason is the more common one. Having to teach students in between is just this incidental thing which is either a bonus or a curse, depending on the person's preferences.