I like how things work in Eastern Europe, where education isn't expensive but you need to actually work hard and be good (and get kicked out if you aren't) to get a degree.
The same is true in the UK - apart from the fact that we overload the term 'engineer' to mean both 'someone who fixes things' and 'someone with a particular professional qualification (similar to a doctor or lawyer)'.
Becoming a Chartered Engineer requires a relevant masters degree, some years of professional experience and then qualifying exams - which is similar to other professions such as medicine or law. And these professional qualifications exist for a reason - e.g. someone has to sign off on a new bridge project and say that it will be safe. I don't want that person to be someone who reckons they know what they're doing just because they've done it for 10 years.
NB: There are good reasons why software is (and should, IMO) be considered differently to a field such as structural engineering. And indeed, very few software engineers bother trying to achieve chartership.
Or pay...