NEW YORK TIMES: …Nearly half of all undergraduates in the United States arrive on campus needing remedial work before they can begin regular credit-bearing classes. That early detour can be costly, leading many to drop out, often in heavy debt and with diminished prospects of finding a job.
Meanwhile, shrinking state budgets have taken a heavy toll at public institutions, reducing the number of seats available in classes students must take to graduate. In California alone, higher education cuts have left hundreds of thousands of college students without access to classes they need.
To address both problems and keep students on track to graduation, universities are beginning to experiment with adding the new “massive open online courses,” created to deliver elite college instruction to anyone with an Internet connection, to their offerings… (more)
Most people agree education is important. They also agree it is expensive. The internet can solve the expensive part of the problem. By granting degrees, colleges attest that a student passed a course of study but colleges do not guarantee student competency. On line education coupled with independent competency examinations and in some cases a residency period would solve a huge cost problem and open the gates of education to all. It is heading that way. We should accelerate it.