As to your specific argument reducing the implied value of a degree without impacting it's actual value is a net gain to society. Credentials independent of skill forces people to jump through extra hoops. This ends up as a huge drain on society.

Anyway you just specified an implied though not supported downside, while ignoring my point that cheating has some minor upsides. Demonstrating that cheating is a dead loss for society is not enough you need to demonstrate it has absolutely zero redeeming qualities allowing for such simple syllogistic reasoning to apply