Maybe this is just a generational thing, but when I entered my years of intellectual curiosity I had access to the local university library, bookstore, and the

Maybe this is just a generational thing, but when I entered my years of intellectual curiosity I had access to the local university library, bookstore, and the internet. Although I don't disagree there are mindblowing concepts out there, I feel they are much more efficiently delivered in texts written by practitioners with worldwide recognition in their fields rather than from a powerpoint lecture made by average state U professor. It seems rather absurd many students must pay thousands of dollars per semester for the privilege to sit in on these lectures when one could purchase the definitive treatment of the subject for $35 and read it in a month. There are a lot of ways of interpreting the question. But to me, the main interpretation is: is it at all cost-efficient to charge students $60k+ and 4 years of their lives to sit in on lectures in order to "learn" abstract bodies of conceptual knowledge? To me the answer is no. But of course the other aspect is the social signal. Many middle class wage paying jobs will not consider uncredentialed people. For this reason acquiring a degree is probably 'worth it'. And of course if you can go for free and delay the real world for that long, hell yeah do it.