I've been wondering, what most degrees from a good school provide to you, and prospective employers, is just a guarantee that you know your stuff and are probab

I've been wondering, what most degrees from a good school provide to you, and prospective employers, is just a guarantee that you know your stuff and are probably smart. Nowadays you can pretty much teach yourself anything online and from books. Why is there no institution that just does the testing and provides a certificate? You get a syllabus for a few years, and then come back at the end, or in some interval, to be tested on the material. Sure, the tests would have to be pretty comprehensive, but that's not really a problem. If they're done well and cheat-proof, I'm sure employers would start to trust those degrees pretty quickly. Then the benefit would be similar to paying for a full university education, but much cheaper. Of course this only works for people who can teach themselves well.