Whether they should or not is a different discussion but I'll put it this way...
Employers (implicitly) use the ability to complete a college degree as a marker of basic competence and knowledge posession necessary to do entry level work. From their side it is simply a more efficient and easier way to assess candidates in bulk than any other approach.
a BS is also a strong social marker of the ability for a student to complete a body of work and manage themselves independent of their parents...basically its an 'adulting' check mark.
Employer here. I’ve never thought like this through the hiring process. I care about what people can build and not where/if they have a degree. The Github section of a CV is 10X more meaningful to me than the education section and I regularly hire people who don’t have degrees.
Absolutely agree this is really how it should be done. Education should also be competency based...but here we are with metrics that are validated in societal normativity rather than actual logic :)
The issue is that the method I'm describing is that method used by large scale employers who have the power and sway to influence how colleges act.
Employers (implicitly) use the ability to complete a college degree as a marker of basic competence and knowledge posession necessary to do entry level work. From their side it is simply a more efficient and easier way to assess candidates in bulk than any other approach.
a BS is also a strong social marker of the ability for a student to complete a body of work and manage themselves independent of their parents...basically its an 'adulting' check mark.