I get your frustration. Certs matter education matters too, the problem that you have is that i have 20+ resumes that look exactly like yours. I cant interview them all. So i need something that makes you stand out.
If you have a github accoutn thats the easiest way. Add a link to your resume and people will look at the work you've done for class projects and go off of that.
Personal projects dont have to be ones that cost money assuming you have at least one computer. Write up a simple powershell script to handle a task that you need to do or something. Extra points if its on git hub so somebody can look at it.
Thats actually why i brough up the pihole project that one can be setup on any computer in a home network very easily. Displays basic sysadmin/networking skills to setup, and is pretty cool to have once its done. To be fair that one takes a bit more work though.
You dont have to go that far out of your way to do some of these and they do separate you from the crowd.