I teach elective courses on web development & mobile development at a university where the bulk of the CS program is about theory. I believe a lot of what is said here is true.

However the premise that you just need to code is true in a lot of ways but it doesn’t account for those who don’t fit the profile of what people expect a developer to be. Because they don’t fit the mold, they need a degree to get into the door, for some, the only place they can get exposure to code and a mentor and the opportunity is through a university so we end up back where we started and not much changes.

This assumption that anyone can just start coding is flawed, I know kids with no computer and no internet access at home; school and potentially university provide the basic requirements they need as an entryway into the tech ecosystem.