[tastythrowaway2]

People are paying for that because employers are demanding it. Sure a few are begrudgingly realizing that an alma mater is irrelevant pedigree (the fact they can pay qualified people less without a degree surely helps), but the lion's share still filter for those with undergraduate degrees or higher. I have no idea how to change this, although personally I have two degrees and believe I would be orders of magnitude better at my profession had I simply worked on my own for the duration of my studies.