I'm not looking for a piece of paper, no. I'm looking for a hands-on learning experience with competent instructors, and the collegiality of classmates. The instructors don't have to be Harvard or MIT grade (note that electrons will still flow in the ways electrons flow regardless of if I learn those ways from a Harvard or MIT Professor, or someone else). I'm just a value shopper for education, nothing more, nothing less. Thus far I think the responses to this query have been fascinating and tremendously useful! But no, I don't want a $5, no time, no learning degree. That would defeat my purpose, which is to learn EE fully and thoroughly, not necessarily to get a job in EE...
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You can arguably learn more about the practice of EE from Dave Jones' YouTube channel, or local hardware Meetups, or "The Amp Hour" than college classes. And those are free.
And go spend a couple of hundred bucks on Horowitz and Hill (2nd or 3rd Ed.) if you want to learn about analog. That's a good bang for the buck.
In the traditional path, your best bet will be spending your last two years at an abet accredited state school that is teaching focused, not research focused.
The "practice of EE" and an actual EE education are not the same thing.
An example: this morning I was thinking of a model where I need to open and close a door when a sensor is activated. The simplest way would be for it to pivot on a horizontal axis like an old-school garage door. Now, given a certain weight of door, how do I calculate the amount of torque my motor/drive-train needs in order to open that door?
The average graduate with an EE degree should have no trouble getting the answer in a few minutes: it's basic physics and algebra (maybe calculus if you want precision). But the average person who learned EE from watching YouTube channels probably will have difficulty.