Credentialism works as a partial class filter: it allows them to exclude from the professional ranks anyone who couldn’t afford or access college.
To deal with the smart and determined working class kids who force their way into college, they fall back on the older tricks. Just don’t hire 'em; they’d be a “poor cultural fit”, anyway.
The insane expense of the US student debt situation twists the knife. Gotta punish the uppity peasants in order to discourage the others.
