Heh, I read his blog too, and I think I even suggested something like your idea, even addressing the people who were making some of the same objections here. (Not to claim credit or anything -- this is the clear implication of the highly successful signaling model of college.)

The idea is to give the signal that good colleges are able to imbue in students, without all the cost. Once you see that, a lot of the objections fall away. The question remains, though, about whether this would actually signal good qualities for the students, which requires overcoming be absurdity heuristic on the part of employers.