A similar example, in the military we had to take continuing military education. When your a Major, in order to get promoted you had to do ACSC (not important what it stands for). Every now an then an "Outlier" would get promoted to Lt Col without accomplishing ACSC. This would embolden a few guys in every unit to avoid biting the bullet and do ACSC because "so and so" didn't do it and got promoted. Invariably all of the "dice rollers" who didn't do ACSC were passed over for promotion a few years later and either had to scramble and cram to finish ACSC before their next promotion board, or they retired as a Major. Just get the degree, as a minimum, you can tell your interviewer how hard your working to accomplish this goal, and your resume can reflect the fact your "enrolled" in a University program..makes you look like a hard charger!