Wow. The brazenness of this argument that online learning should cost as much as on-campus learning is truly mind bending. https://twitter.com/TheSpinoffTV/status/1276006814765572097

I don't know anything about running a university. BUT I know quite a lot about about transitioning from traditional capital infrastructure investment to new technological investment and how to turn that transition into considerable cost savings.

So here are the two main fallacies I see in this piece:

1) The idea that investment in infrastructure & processes to enable online learning is commensurate with the investment required to build and maintain physical campus infrastructure.

2) The idea that there are "civic responsibilities incumbent upon all universities" to "reach out and educate our fellow citizens" and that this will be enabled by simply enabling education online and NOTHING to do with making it more affordable.

The only purpose for this, that I can see, is to use online learners to subsidise large university campuses that may no longer be fully utilised.

There is no question that online learning is a great equaliser. But if you think that your old university with its sprawling campus can charge exorbitant fees for online learners, I think you fundamentally misunderstand the market you're about to step into.