[atomicnumber3]

I think in part because on the "buyer" side, there's often a problem of how to sort through 100 resumes for a position. Given that in any given pile of resumes, probably 70% are unqualified, filtering for "degree" is an easy way (though naturally not great, though how not great it is is hard to measure, which of course means we do it) to cut the work required in half or more.

[jackdaniel]

Free education does not mean "no degrees", it means "funded from taxes/ by goverment".

[patrickmay]

That's still not "free." Taxpayers are footing the bill, with the government taking its cut.