Shakedown.
Mafia.
And credentialing creep.
One needs a credential, which is at least some courses, but usually a degree, in order to anything from hairdressing, to childcare, to nurses aid .... and so forth.
All are extremely regulated.
Now physical therapists need to be doctorates. and lots other too. NPs now need doctorates. And neither would need doctorates in the scope of their practice.
Happens in all fields. Expect that plumbers to need ADs soon. Unreal.
Once they can require credentials, the state can regulate who can work and who cannot work. And whether you can work.
Goals 2000 came true through collusion of the Education Bureaucracy and the Regulatory bureaucracy.