These questions come down to a lack of doing a root cause analysis, and getting caught up in the existing framing of the issue. So let's try an RCA here. Why

These questions come down to a lack of doing a root cause analysis, and getting caught up in the existing framing of the issue. So let's try an RCA here. Why do people pay it? They think it'll pay off. Why? Because it does. Employers respect it, thereby it gives them more employability than without it. Why do employers respect it? Because it means they know what they need for the job? Of course not. It's because they've proved conscientiousness, intelligence, interest, and basic cultural match, by sticking through 4 years of that. So what is the solution? Obvious. Entrepreneurialism to offer competing services that satisfy the above screening for employers, while being faster, cheaper, and more effective on the employees' end. Throw in teaching something useful into the mix too and you're winning. If an undercurrent of that gets going, the universities are toast. But people keep talking about this like it's a political and cultural matter. The problem with that is you externalize the issue, make it the responsibility of others, and disempower yourself. Everyone can join in in producing or aiding that competition, unilaterally and individually.