The only way that will change is if companies stop requiring college degrees as a "check the box" step to even get considered by some automated hiring system. _

The only way that will change is if companies stop requiring college degrees as a "check the box" step to even get considered by some automated hiring system. _That_ is what is driving universities as diploma mills, not the universities themselves. See what jobs you can get these days with a high school diploma, and you understand the economics of a university degree. This also ties in with the US no longer manufacturing much of anything -- which created a lot of decent jobs that didn't require a college degree. Those jobs are gone.