Only because a USA college degree is worth a little more than a high school diploma was 50 years ago.
I'm in IT - I do a lot of hiring. At best, a degree is a checkbox: "Yup. They've got it." Tells me that the person is able to stick with something for 4 years and see it to completion.
That's all, nothing else. I'm more interested in what people have done - I've got a right good number of people on my team with no degree at all...they got their OJT in the military. But then, IT is a different animal. Results count. In "soft" work like HR and Marketing, not so much.
However, others - particularly in HR - think that a degree confers some sort of magical powers. Why? I dunno. All I know is that I've got a BS in Electrical Engineering, and HR wonks eyes pop when I tell them that. It's fine with me, and I don't emphasize that I earned it 20-odd years ago, and have rarely used it since then. :-)
And don't get me started on 24-year-old kids walking out of State U with an MBA and no experience, who don't understand why they can't have a $200K job and a corner office, yet.