Why shouldn’t there be a federally sponsored and accredited online university where college degrees would be granted in most majors without the need to enter into the ivy covered halls of debt. Training for technical certification could also be included.
The winners would be the blue-collar workers who have neither the time, the money nor the willingness to become debt slaves that would be required to attend brick and mortar or ‘for profit’ online schools. Waiting tables, driving a truck, working in an office, running a backhoe or fixing engines doesn’t leave a lot of time for attending class. The losers would be the brick and mortar colleges, the current ‘for profit’ online colleges, the textbook publishers and the banks holding the student’s un-extinguishable debt. These industries no longer serve their purposes and to prolong their survival have indebted forty four million students with an average $37,000 of debt.
Education is the transference of information from the source to students mind. This occurs equally well whether from an overpriced textbook or from a laptop - in a classroom or a in home or a work place. The abstract advantages of attending a brick and mortar school do not offset the cost and lack of access for working people. Let them continue to cater to those who can afford them but take away their monopoly on granting the diplomas that allow access to law schools, med schools, grad schools, professional license exams and all jobs requiring a degree - use the power of the internet to do something other than enrich the already rich - use it instead to provide a ladder that anyone can get onto and rise as far as they wish to climb without a ticket costing $37,000
(I’m building a shed for a backyard foundry so I won’t be inside to face the slings and arrows generated by this diary. Please be gentle in your criticism — I am a sensitive soul)