Academic Woes

OK. So I know that I am an old curmudgeon. But I am totally convinced that academe is going to hell in a handbasket. Our university, the biggest health sciences university in the country, has decided that we should be tuition driven. Free markets, customer service -- hey, why the heck not right? NOT wrong.
Now, not only do we have to take virtually every cretin that comes in with money and a B (usually inflated) average in their undergrad, but we are pressured to keep them. The quality of the students in grad school is unbelievable. And in my profession we issue them the means for applying for prescriptive privileges. So we have people out there writing scripts after taking one semester of clinical pharmacology.
To make matters worse, the nursing profession has this nifty degree -- the DNP, doctorate of nursing practice. This is an easy way for the faculty who didn't bother to get a PhD to be called "Dr." and means one can go to school for 18 months of grad school with a total watered down curriculum and be called "Dr." So much for my 5 year struggle with a PhD.
What a sham. And the students are flocking to these programs, presumably so that they can be called "Dr."
What is the bottom line for consumers: 1) Ask what the heck kind of Dr. is taking care of you in a health care setting; 2) if it's not a DO or an MD run, don't walk, away and ask for a real doctor.