Your degree had an impact on your hireability and marketability. It signals passing a threshold of work and knowledge, your self-edification doesn't. You can of course build something, but so do college grads, whom you compete against.

You also admitted that your wage is such that paying off the tuition was trivial. That makes it seem like a good deal, not a bad one. Even if you're strictly criticizing knowledge-transfer, most people would disagree and find some value in the format.