you can always read at your own pace, and can test out of subjects that you can prove you have mastered without taking them.
Yes, you can master your subject any time. You can work 168 hours a week towards that, but you can’t just hang out a shingle and expect people to take you seriously without accreditation.
This is what is changing. You’ll be able to acquire accreditation without having to sit through hours of lectures to write hundreds of papers to do it. That’s the difference. Formal accreditation without a formal education.
Just like it used to be.