There are individuals who on their own can get all the education they need from free public resources. These are the people who can get a college degree's wort

There are individuals who on their own can get all the education they need from free public resources. These are the people who can get a college degree's worth of education out of a public library on their own. They represent an infinitesimal minority of the population. Most people, even people with CS degrees lack that discipline. At least the CS degree forces them to learn some fundamentals so that they can potentially understand what they're looking at and learn on the job, and demonstrates at least a moderate interest in the subject as a vocation. In my experience most people who graduate from bootcamps (in general, some are better than others) are all about getting a job as soon as possible. They're expecting a 6 figure salary within a year, and are willing/able to put in 70+ hour weeks for a few months to get there. Not knocking that perspective, but they'll lack a lot of background outside of their very specific niche and will likely be less adaptable, particularly on any highly technical subjects where some level of theory is required. IMO the wave of "Software Engineering" degrees that are trickling out into the universities are probably the ideal. Full 4 year accredited degree that focuses on practical software development and less on the theory and mathematics. Let the CS-degrees focus on research/academics in the fashion of schools of Arts and Science and leave the Engineering to the Engineering schools.