I was mostly ranting, but you deserve a more serious answer, so. 
(excuse any leaps, it’s 3AM).
Really expensive education is very often just an artificial barrier to entry. As someone who attended a public-funded University (as per my country’s educational system, and we’re not a rich country, I’d say we’re poor with rich vices), and according to many people’s comparisons to fundamentally private educational systems (either they also studied in other countries, or they had friends/ siblings/ partners, so the time and the degree are comparable), I would say that the core, the actual knowledge, is really not different (we lack in infrastructure to the point that it’s laughable, but that’s another issue), but the value of the degrees is only seen as different (especially in job applications) because the one is literally paid for. They prefer the person from a family that can afford a degree and make friends in high places in uni (actual HR people words, not mine).
And very often higher education is outright bought, and its primary function is that all those people who can afford it interconnect and create alliances for later on. I’ve heard of scandals in the US, but I can bet every country has them, one way or the other. It’s really who you rub shoulders with, not what goes in your brain.
I should note that, although it’s free to attend University in Greece, as in you pass high school exams and there is no cost related to the degree, there are of course all the usual hidden costs that accompany an education, from the simple rent/ food in another city, if needed, to photocopies and books (usually books are free, but professors use their privilege to basically blackmail students to buy their or their colleagues books). It’s really a broken system, in many ways, but I do not mind my taxes paying to educate kids that are not my own; I fully support that.
I am not saying everyone who attended a private university is worse, or inadequate, or bought their education etc, I’m talking about the system (and I’m mostly putting this disclaimer for future reference, I don’t think you will misunderstand my point).
Additionally, at this time and age, there is really an abundance of good quality, customized and free knowledge online (basically because of our generation and older who put everything on the internet, it’s funny how sometimes much younger people can’t understand that this wasn’t a thing not too long ago).
Me, personally, I have learned a lot from online sources, and it hasn’t been too difficult to find a good course, or an educational video, or a podcast, or a nice article. However, although it helps me grow as a person, it adds pragmatically nothing to my CV. (It’s not my only end goal to fill my resume with certificate titles, I like learning stuff just to gloat over my smartness, just to enrich my inner self, but still, we gotta pay the bills.)
On one hand, US has artificially driven up education costs because it leads in education and everyone just copies the system (I honestly, truly don’t understand why a Greek University Master’s can have similar costs to a USA one, since salaries and costs are wildly different*), on the other hand it pioneered this abundant knowledge environnment from which we all benefit immensely, so it’s really just how things evolve, I guess.
*Or we do that lovely thing where the salary is Greek standards but the cost is Luxembourg.
I’m of the opinion that education should indeed be a fundamental right, although I recognize it’s unattainable in our current society. And I think this lack of educational foundation leads to such a wide berth for scammers, since people pay without critical thinking for a Master’s in Nothing, believing that it’s a godsent deal to pay 50$ for something that would normally cost 5-6 figures, or pay thousands for inflated smoke balloons that offer them nothing of use and a 2-hour podcast would give them the same info.
When it’s not clear what is the value of the education, of the knowledge and of the paper certificate in each case, people unfortunately get mixed up among all that and can’t tell what to pay for.
Another issue, that I will only lightly touch, is the pressure to choose such an expensive, and usually exclusive, direction, at a very young age, where the majority (globally, I’m not talking about countries) doesn’t have the funds, or the maturity, or the knowledge, or the opportunity to make the best choice.
About online costs specifically, I find it ridiculous that online degrees cost the same or just slightly less than degrees on campus. There is absolutely no reason for that, other than universities are used to be treated as a luxury. Sometimes it is a quality handmade bracelet, but usually it’s just Yeezys.
shamefully underfund education, but that’s enough of a parenthetical rant…), and many see an opportunity to take advantage of the situation to make a quick buck. It’s difficult to separate the wheat from the sea of chaff out there.