There are many industries which require degrees to get into in the first place, especially Biology/Chemistry/Physchics and many other hard sciences. Some of tho

There are many industries which require degrees to get into in the first place, especially Biology/Chemistry/Physchics and many other hard sciences. Some of those especially those that require labs and materials have a huge capital cost that keeps them within existing institutions. The rubber stamp at the end is just an agreed upon way to say "they have this basis of knowledge". If there was a way to get that basis of knowledge in other settings and a standardized way of testing whether you fit the professional criteria (such as the Bar exam for lawyers) there's no reason you couldn't go into it. Prestige matters SOME, but its more about the connections you get or are perceived to have after coming out of a big school. The info should be generally the same.