So if someone's super passionate about art history and is also able to meet the (presumably) more stringent entry criteria, they will still be able to get that degree.
And the free program should be based on Merit, and career demand.
Who chooses what defines "Merit"?
If you get accepted to their program, it's free for you.
Accreditation means auditing to standards and performance.
Why? Surely part of the 'charm' of University is to get chance to study thing you know nothing about just to see if that happens to be your thing, plus studying things just because you enjoy it.
Sure we probably shouldn't encourage too many people to get art history degrees, but why not let people take some art history courses just because they find the topic fascinating?