What value the certificate ends up having — if any — will be up to the market. Now, having MIT and Harvard involved in online education makes it a lot more likely the classes offered by edX will be rigorous, and that the credentials it awards will be taken seriously. That would serve the broader policy goal of putting downward pressure on costs. The long-standing higher-education formula — four years at a high-cost residential college — has served many students well, and will continue to do so. But tuition increases that far outpace inflation have become unsustainable. Institutions should continue to experiment with ways to bring down prices, and if innovation stalls, the government should be ready to use the leverage of federal aid to nudge schools along.
http://bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2012/05/12/harvard-and-mit-point-online-future-higher/y84MksUlDnjfeuY4FrA19H/story.html
