Society benefits when people get more educated, period, including better voting decision, more civic engagement, and ability to build social ties across class, ethnic, and ideological lines.
Sure, but a modern day University is not a great model for education. All of the information from a 4 year degree can be found on the internet for free. Essentially you are buying accountability and for some majors getting past their barriers of entry.
It's not about information. It's about learning how to work with others in the context of a complex institution, critical thinking by interacting with others who have different viewpoints, and in the case of post graduate degrees creating new knowledge.
Those things cannot be done over the Internet easily.