Could self taught Masters degrees be possible?

With extremely high costs of doing a masters degree at University or online (usually over £15k a year) and the increasing scarcity of sponsorships, could it be possible one day for a student to do the topic and study of their own choice at masters level entirely on their own and self directed? They would of course have to pay a university that could assess their work dissertations etc, screen it for plagiarism and award an MSc or MA if the dissertations and papers are up to standard. The cost of assessment would be a lot cheaper than attending the university for a taught course or enrolling on an online masters degree.
With the ever expanding internet all the information on topics is available to help them. Could it be possible as the costs of normal masters degrees deter a lot of potential students who often fail continue beyond first degree level. It could also be a way for graduates to return to postgraduate study after a long time since graduating.

Depending on what the masters is on, you could even cut it out completely. Many jobs in the IT sector for example are more interested in your skills rather than your degree and it is easy to showcase those skills through creating a positive footprint on the likes of StackOverflow and having an innovative personal website.

Or why not set up your own business. No doubt you would happily employ yourself even if you have no qualifications?

Ideally I’d like to do a biology / microbiology related masters but not sure what other routes there are to get into postgraduate PhD study other than masters since it’s been a while since doing my BSc.