This is an interesting question and one I hadn't thought of before. In the market for talent, degrees are just a signaling device. They help employers identif

This is an interesting question and one I hadn't thought of before. In the market for talent, degrees are just a signaling device. They help employers identify "the good ones." So schools build their signal by making it hard to get in, doing the prework of identifying the good ones. MOOCs, on the other hand, do the opposite - they let anyone in, so there is no signaling. It does seem like you should be able to create an online degree that mirrors this signal by marketing the hell out of how hard it is to get in and complete.