"The kid paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a college education has certainly been told they will be able to at least double their ROI."

Perhaps, but at least the kid got the education for his money. That has to be worth at least something, if not doubling their ROI.

"WTF is the FTC doing about that?!"

The main difference is that Steemit "is designed" to scam the vast majority of members by offering them something that Steemit does not or can not deliver on. That is different that a bank failing. The bank was not setup or designed to specifically scam its customers. Also, most banks have (or should have) deposit insurance which will compensate customers to certain limits, in the event of a bank failure. No one should ever put their money in any bank that does not have such insurance.