I mean, in the U.K., if you’re interested in learning at your own pace, every university has at least some form of part-time course, local FE colleges do part time courses regularly, and there’s the Open University if you want to work towards a degree part-time. This is an American problem, not one to do with the concept of being able to prove you’ve completed an education.
This is missing the point. There are plenty of flexible educational opportunities in the US too (e.g. community colleges).
Both the UK and the US (and I say this as someone who's taught at universities in both countries) face the problem that the majority of people going to college now are going just because they need a degree to get a job, not because they have any interest in learning anything.
Education is a public good. Forcing people through diploma mills isn't.
Compared to what? Taking one three-credit course at Bunker Hill Community College is $558, taking four three-credit courses is $2,232 ($3,925 with health insurance) [0]. At City College of San Francisco (one I picked for to have a west coast option) is $138 for one typical course and $552 for four (that's just tuition but other fees are extremely low).
If you're taking courses at a private college part-time, sure their tuition is a lot higher; taking just one course like Fundamentals of Instructional Technology from RIT Online is $3,243 [2]. Four-year public universities will probably cost somewhere in-between but it varies a lot by state.
For reference, that's how much my mother was paid to be an adjunct professor at a local community college to teach 10-20 students a 3 credit course for a semester.
Yes, adjunct faculty pay is often low for what they’re expected to do at almost all schools.
A lot of tuition paid is not for the instuctor but for infrastructure and administrative costs inherent to running a school. Some of the money paid for your mother’s course probably went toward paying non-adjunct faculty; it’s not like schools charge different rates based on the instructor or what they’re paid.
