I'm just happy to have a job considering what's happened over the last 7 years or so.
And my job required a degree, though they never asked to see it, so as long as someone could talk the talk they could just skip the 4 years of uni. You could also get into my industry and kind of job simply by working your way up from an unskilled role, and if linkedin is anything to go by, plenty have done just that. I saw an attractive girl on there who was a customer service assistant and in 2 years became a state manager...now there was obviously a lot of cock sucking going on with that particular case, but my point is that whatever your career path, it's the effort and dedication to your career that's gonna make the difference, not whether you studied or did an apprenticeship or grew weed. Combine that with a bit of luck, good or bad, but for most part you tend to reap what you sow.
There are also upsides to uni besides getting a job. The emphasis is on teaching oneself to learn for oneself and to be open minded about research in a particular field; to share knowledge. It's a great and fun lifestyle to live while you're young. Old enough to appreciate learning unlike high school, but still young enough to party and fk around / experiment socially. You meet lots of people and have some awesome parties, depending what university you go to. Without uni I would be socially inept because my high school was fking shit for girls and people in general, and I'd prolly still be scared to talk to girls. So I don't regret going to uni even though I didn't end up doing what I primarily went there for, but if I had my time again I'd prolly do the tradie path and invest in property early on while mooching off parents. That being said, when I started uni, tradies weren't earning nearly as much as they have over the last 10 years and it was pretty widely seen as far from the wise option for someone with the potential to go to uni.
Lastly, no one should look down on anyone else for the path they've chosen or ended up in, as it's really none of your business and everyone has their own reasons for why they are where they are, both inside and outside their control. No piece of paper or amount of money makes you a better member of society, your personality has more play in that.
tl;dr: degrees > diplomas