What MOOCs (will increasingly) highlight is the limited incremental educational value provided by most traditional educational institutions. The value is in the

What MOOCs (will increasingly) highlight is the limited incremental educational value provided by most traditional educational institutions. The value is in the signals: (1) proving you can stick with something long enough to get a degree, and (2) proving you were good enough to get into a selective institution. I have two degrees from famous universities. I remember very little from my classes, but even at the time, I don't think I learned much that I couldn't also have got from a really good MOOC class. (And from some college classes I learned nothing at all.) And yes, learning from great classmates and making relationships for life is also invaluable, but that's not how most schools market themselves, nor why most students choose to go.