You are right that MOOCs can't be free forever. In particular, right now MOOCs are subsidized by tenure: it's often tenured profs who can get a course release w

You are right that MOOCs can't be free forever. In particular, right now MOOCs are subsidized by tenure: it's often tenured profs who can get a course release who develop MOOCs, and they do so because they're interested in education, rather than from a profit motive per se. Most universities swallow the cost because it's good for marketing at this point. This won't be true in the future. Many universities are looking to develop their own branded online programs, which may or may not look like MOOCs, so that they can have an additional revenue stream. This pulls them away from platforms like Coursera. I am curious what will happen as the ed companies' interests diverge from those of the university.