I think Human Resource (HR) Managers want to protect their butts when hiring.
I think there's a lot of merit to this...^^^
Nevertheless, after having sit through literally several dozens of group interviews over the past 2 years, I am still convinced that the best practice/policy is to simply
...hire the BEST AVAILABLE CANDIDATE
regardless of whether they have the (perceived) ideal academic credentials, or not.
Every time we let someone's degree win them a job, it has been a bad choice. Meanwhile, better employees have slipped thru our fingers.
The degree is just the cover charge to get you into the interview...