More Pressure on the Higher Ed Bubble - Evan Walter, the Foundry

Despite the fact that the “cost of basic knowledge is cheaper than ever before,” the cost of attending college continues to skyrocket. In large part, dramatic increases in college tuition are the result of ever-growing federal higher education subsidies, which have allowed universities to raise prices while incentivizing students to take on more loan debt. But the college price bubble could soon be on the verge of busting, thanks to budding innovations and entrepreneurs in the higher education market. Udemy and Udacity are two new and innovative online learning platforms providing access to educational content to anyone, anywhere, at little or no cost to the user. Both Udemy and Udacity were founded on a single principle: that everyone in the world should be able to access knowledge. Both companies operate using an online, open-source model: Anyone who has Internet access can take a class. It is an important step toward the democratization of access to course content and an important new market pressure being placed on a bloated higher education system.