>the only important point is time freed up which should be a part of normal education.

College felt like the last time I truly had "time freed up". 16 units of classes per quarter came down to ~8-10 hours of class time per week and the recommendation was 2 hour of study per class unit a week (e.g. a 4 unit class recommends 8 hours of study a week). So, typical full time work. But mostly on campus (aka a walkable community), close to peers, with no worries of future responsibilities.

now of course, the CS curriculum easily required double or triple that recommendation, but that speaks more towards the subject than the concept of college.