[amanaplanacanal]

Well... Maybe. From a customer point of view, they are paying for education. If they aren't getting education that's a problem.

From a future employer point of view, they are looking for credentials. But the future employer isn't paying for it.

Do we just admit that the purpose of school is to provide credentials, and that's what the students are actually paying for?

[9dev]

Framing it as a transaction is part of the problem IMHO. We have a collective interest that the majority of the population gets the best education possible. Turning universities into credential stores leads to all the negative side effects we're dealing with - pay to play schemes, dubious credential mills, rich families bribing universities, and so on.

[mckn1ght]

You do still actually need the credential process though, in order to demonstrate that a person has in fact received that education.