People who don't intend to cheat don't buy the answers. If everyone at the college did it that still wouldn't make it right. It would make a degree from that college worthless, for one thing, which is a huge reason why colleges have such strict policies against cheating.

What about the people who actually do their own work, work really hard but get a B because someone else who was too lazy cheated and got their A instead? A grade is not only a measure of your knowledge, it's a measure of your effort and dedication. And it's a measure of where you stand compared to your classmates.

Everyone who cheated at college deserves to have their degrees revoked, or at least they deserve to fail the class they cheated in. At my college if you're caught cheating, even on a single homework problem on a single assignment, you get an automatic 0 for the class; the WHOLE CLASS that you probably just paid $1500 to take. If you do it again you're expelled.

Can you imagine what would happen if someone working on their doctorate was caught plagiarizing or otherwise being dishonest in the least? They would most certainly have their degree revoked, probably permanently. There's such a thing as academic integrity.

I work in a research setting. I had two whole days worth of classes at work about academic integrity. Any form of dishonesty, even the slightest alteration of data to make your theory work or the slightest indication of passing off an idea as yours that isn't, anything of that sort will rightly destroy your career and reputation. You'd be lucky if you were only fired; depending on the nature of the dishonesty you could face criminal charges, in the kind of work I do. I would expect everyone at college to understand the importance of integrity, but especially a scientist or mathematician. Integrity is such a huge part of what you're supposed to be.

Are you going to teach kids in your classes that if they don't feel like working in your class, they can just cheat and it's OK with you? How could you ever punish someone for cheating after doing so yourself with no regrets?

No, I've never cheated at school or work or anything else that I can think of at the moment. I can't imagine what it takes to look a professor in the eye and lie to his face, in actions if not words. You may as well walk up to someone and spit in their face as lie to them. At least they would be aware of the utter contempt and disrespect you hold for them, instead of being ignorant of it.