In Asian countries (at least) a degree is also a matter of prestige (I also suspect it happens in European countries with their strong culture). When a person h

In Asian countries (at least) a degree is also a matter of prestige (I also suspect it happens in European countries with their strong culture). When a person has a degree in something useful like engineering, medicine or accounting, they automatically start commanding respect (even if it is not from a good college). While on the other hand, there are a lot of ways to command respect in open and free countries like America. The difference lies in the culture. Also if you are measuring the success of OCW just by the admissions in colleges then it would be a wrong metric. College is much more than just your studies. Things like networking, employability, easy structure have already been mentioned. One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is Labs. You can easily set up a programming environment, but what about civil engineering, mechanical engineering, bio sciences, economic surveys, medicine, pharmacy? These things require large amounts of money to setup, and cannot be provided in any open way. Furthermore, where will you get willing guides for your research work and such? Refer to my previous comment here, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1648554 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1648554