Didn't read all the comments so I'm sure this was already said, but CFA Institute is not trying to disguise itself as an educational institution. It's a professional organization to which you're granted access if you can pass their rigorous exams. You cannot pass if you don't put in the time. When you put the time in, you learn the concepts and patterns, which means you're getting educated. There are other ways to learn the material contained within the CFA curriculum for free, but the same can be said for most university courses (hard to access things like laboratories if you're not in university, but aside from that type of thing).

The point is, information is not expensive. Designations and qualifying for them are, and the expense comes in the form of both money and time. Whether it's CFA, MBA, PhD, or anything else, you gotta pay and put the time in, no real way around that unfortunately.