Well, having just finished the first year of a biology degree I'm fairly certain I could have taught myself everything required with the two textbooks, you tube and Khan Academy in six real weeks of work and for much less than £9000... Hopefully next year will be different.
Don't count on it. The lab experience is what you're really paying for in the first couple years of a science degree.
I think it is not just about the actual skills element but the fact that by studying through a course to completion you are showing other skills that aren't taught by a text book such as the ability to follow instructions given to you(even if you don't agree with them or think they are dumb! ) the ability to meet deadlines, the fact you are capable of seeing something through right until the end and the ability to work with others within an environment. These skills are also a valuable asset to any employee and it is quite often an extra reason why prospective employers ask what qualifications you have received and when, even if it is not relevant to the job field. There are somethings you can teach yourself, I have taught myself many additional skills in my lifetime so far, but I don't believe that I have learnt them better on my own than I would have within a course and sometimes you miss that individual guidance that google cannot supply
As above. Be glad your not doing some kind of humanities degree with 6 hours contact time a week and the rest "self study."
I think th majority of programming skills comes from sheer experience. I learned a huge amout of stuff from a three week w/e placement, orders of magnitude more than what I would have learned sitting around reading books for three weeks. That said, you can't really go wrong by sitting down in front of the computer and just googling/wikipediaing various stuff and reading up on things. I'm a Maths student so I have never been formally taught anything about vehicle dynamics yet I still manage to produce valuable at least I hope so input into our Formula Student team purely from information I've read up on online. (In fact, this is really the case with all the members of our team since the engineers get taught very little on the subject). EDIT: You could probably teach yourself a Maths degree out of a textbook, but going to lectures is so much less boring.
