Tobbe / Laura
Lol, not really. Since I did suggest this I might as well explain this is a feature of an absurdly expensive college system that is very much a US thing.
Melanie, Katie's mom had Katie early and didn't get to go to get her formal degree, so now while she basically does the job of an engineer at Boeing, she doesn't get remotely well paid for it.
So I did say to Melanie that why doesn't she go back and get her degree, and basically get paid double.? Every large corp like hers has cheap deals AND advanced placement to help train it's workforce. It's a gold plated deal for a university to have that relationship.
Because education is so expensive in the US system, Melanie can't afford both her studies and this deal. And so here we are shrug
TL;DR; US universities are absurdly expensive.