I completed a history degree. For my thesis I carried out a computer content analysis of Xinhua (新華社), China’s official news agency, to gauge Beijing’s foreign policy priorities in Southeast Asia during the Deng Xiaoping era. My faculty advisor said that I could get a job as an analyst if I were willing to move to Washington (I was not interested in doing this).
I graduated with a Psychology degree. I worked at a lot of BS jobs after college from recruiting and customer service which lead me to pursue sales for more money. Did sales for about seven years for various industries, left sales about two years ago, and now I work in totally different field that funny enough isn't customer facing. Being under 40, I'm proud to say that I am very close to what I feel is financial freedom.
Anecdotally, one of my friend circles consists of some engineers, doctors, lawyers, CEOs - you get it, the book smart people. Very well educated, went to prestigious universities, earned their highly respected degrees, etc. Most of them today are solidly traffic jammed in the rat race like the majority of society.
I have another friend circle, not nearly as educated as the friends highlighted above, who some are sitting on multi-million stock portfolios/assets/whatever. One of them who really stands out paid one of our other friend to write all his papers in college. Think he barely squeezed out a C average.
It really depends on the person. I work for an Elon Musk company if anyone cares.
While the Extension School does offer certificate programs, it's the Harvard Business School that has really benefited IMHO. They are really pushing hard to grow them (https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/hbs-online-certificate-of-s...).
You are correct about the growth of online degrees. HES degree programs received a massive boost when online classes were offered and "professional" concentrations (business, technology) were made available at the graduate level starting about 15 years ago. The number of new degrees awarded every year has tripled as a result.
Note that the University does not allow the Extension School to award MS or MBA degrees, and there is a lot of controversy over the convoluted and demeaning designation that's used on our degrees (https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/3/9/extension-school...).
The other area in which the Harvard Extension School is well-known is its post-bacc. It's highly regarded, and people who complete the program have been admitted to top-tier medical schools across the U.S. (https://extension.harvard.edu/academics/programs/premedical-...).