Only when some situation is controlling your life and there are serious consequences preventing someone from working towards their desired goal, should online courses be considered.

For instance: A person 45 years old is suddenly told that they need to get a degree or leave the company. Their family depends upon health insurance to get by, perhaps even cancer treatments. If they leave the company to go to school, their family member may die. If they stay, they can not attend college because they work 10 hours a day. In this case, the only option may be to acquire a college degree online. The same might be true for rural farm families. The farm may fail if the children go away to college.

Just because someone has more money than another doesn't mean they are required to spend it on anyone else. The Government is there for this purpose. In Bill Gates situation, he contributes many millions of dollars annually to what he believes is important. Personally, I believe investing in technologies to allow humans to become immortal are pretty high on my priorities.

I abhor anyone who looks for a free handout. This is akin to someone in good health parking in a handicapped space.

I can see the US Government funding a select few college degrees that can be obtained online. Accounting, medical billing, mathematics, and similar fields for which there are a very limited number of questions that students will need answers, and the only practical applications they need for hands-on experience can be obtained online.



Until we develop AI to the point of dealing with abstract questions, I don't believe online courses will work for Engineering, Business, Medicine, and other complex fields of study.

I don't see how this could help anything. The funds that were spent in support of this system would take away from taxable income thus cutting off many other programs in need to tax support.