I feel like I'm probably remembering this completely wrong, but for some reason I remember the partner program (when it first came out back in like 2007 or so) was only available for the really big channels with upwards of 100k subscribers.. I remember being really surprised when they opened it up for everyone to be eligible to apply to become a partner.
The big channels that started a decade ago (before monetization was a thing) originally posted many videos "just for fun." Initially, there was no money available at all, and I really liked the genuine "old YouTube" mentality. Since then, it's been turned into a big money-machine. I think this will push new creators a bit more into the old original YouTube mindset -- which is a little better, imo.