> So I guess my question is, why can’t there be a free or low cost, not for profit, accredited bachelors level computer science degree?
I've looked into this topic somewhat, and basically it boils down to dense regulation by governments and an oligopoly on "accreditation" by a few institutions that has risen out of this. However, the costs are not insurmountable to obtain accreditation, but the process itself is rather arduous and not quite as inexpensive as this article (https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/10/22/real-costs-a...) leads you to believe, still perhaps 40-60k a year are the costs you would be looking at for accreditation alone, and you haven't even started to pay your faculty or administrators to work with the institution to maintain standards, etc.
However, in order to be accredited you need to meet each and every requirement and suggestion made by these institutions. I have no idea how pliable they would be to alternative plans of learning and anything non-standard - my guess is not very, but I could be mistaken.
> But here in the US it’s going to cost you tens of thousands of dollars at minimum. Does it have to be that way?
It doesn't. There is nothing inherent in the process of "gaining the knowledge and skills of a BA in Computer Science" that needs to costs anywhere near thousands of dollars - except in opportunity costs perhaps. Its just that the US system, through misaligned Government policy, has created an environment in which it is very difficult for an entrepreneur to just come in and "open up a new learning institution", so new and alternative models don't get tried out and aren't allowed to freely compete in order to weed out inefficiences and allow for the best to rise to the top.