[Mick]

But elite education for all? With no branding by an Admissions committee?  Oh, yeah. Why not?

Eight years ago, I took a two week marketing management mini-class taught by a dynamic marketing prof at Northwestern -- an Indian professor, and I can't recall his name. Wish I could.  The subject turned to higher education going completely online, and when it will happen.  

His take was that it could happen relatively easily, but that it wouldn't happen to a Top 10 school with the exception of MIT.  His theory was that they the other nine were far too invested in exclusivity and brand to water down their graduates with second tier candidates.  He made MIT the exception because (paraphrased his words) they were more of a meritocratic trade school than the other nine (at this writing, source USNWR Top Ten are: Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, MIT, Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Penn, Northwestern and Duke).

He further theorized that a "second ten" university was more likely to emerge, but most would refrain from offering degrees online because they were madly trying to ramp up their brand to Top Ten levels.  Those colleges were: John Hopkins, Cal Tech, Dartmouth, Brown, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Cornell, Rice, Washington U. in St. Louis and -- again, at this writing -- UCLA.d

There'd be some hurdles, and you'd need a team of TAs...but for a discount that large?  Sure, why not?

[Mick]

But elite education for all? With no branding by an Admissions committee?  Oh, yeah. Why not?

Eight years ago, I took a two week marketing management mini-class taught by a dynamic marketing prof at Northwestern -- an Indian professor, and I can't recall his name. Wish I could.  The subject turned to higher education going completely online, and when it will happen.  

His take was that it could happen relatively easily, but that it wouldn't happen to a Top 10 school with the exception of MIT.  His theory was that they the other nine were far too invested in exclusivity and brand to water down their graduates with second tier candidates.  He made MIT the exception because (paraphrased his words) they were more of a meritocratic trade school than the other nine (at this writing, source USNWR Top Ten are: Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, MIT, Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Penn, Northwestern and Duke).

He further theorized that a "second ten" university was more likely to emerge, but most would refrain from offering degrees online because they were madly trying to ramp up their brand to Top Ten levels.  Those colleges were: John Hopkins, Cal Tech, Dartmouth, Brown, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Cornell, Rice, Washington U. in St. Louis and -- again, at this writing -- UCLA.d

There'd be some hurdles, and you'd need a team of TAs...but for a discount that large?  Sure, why not?