See, this 'debate' hints at darker truths, IMO.
We, as a society, have been sold a pup in regard to university.
University, as an institution, subsumed everything else: Polys, HE colleges, professional colleges, under Blair.
We, the parents, especially of those whose DC would have been unlikely to have attended what was previously known as a uni, (you know, BBB at academic A level)- lapped it up.
The promoted colleges lapped it up. Uni!
Along came fees. And the commodification of HE. Unis became businesses, vying for students (we all know of kids with a D and an E at (modern) A level at uni).
Thus, long gone are the days of 'learning for learning's sake'/fostering enquiring minds and independent learning, for a huge majority of students. They just need that 2:1 to even get a job interview. A 2:1 which it made good business sense for the uni to suggest was pretty likely.
Unis (yes, not all, but the St Andrews discussion up thread was 'interesting') have debased themselves; we, the public, have gone along with the destruction of our FE institutions, our professional schools (think nursing, radiography); our actual, real apprenticeships, our on-the-job training with meaningful, nationally recognised night school professional qualifications.
Germany didn't do this, for example.
There has been an increasing case for a Great Reckoning in our HE provision (I mean, sorry to single a poster out, but a degree in jazz?); allied with a step change in industry not lazily demanding a degree in order to interview (and thus make the youngster pay for their own basic training).
It is hugely unfortunate if a catastrophe like Covid forces this change upon our society, but, frankly, something had to, as a Tory government was never going to bite that bullet, were they?