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Until Visa officials around the World wake up and smell the coffee that Degrees shouldn't matter for immigration - I will care about and be anxious about my lack of a Degree. Until MOOCs don't confer a degree - it's going to be very hard to convince me to spend time getting a Certificate from it (as opposed to watching the most interesting and important bits and skipping the rest, in the "YouTube University" style).

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Unfortunately, I don't think degree requirements are going to go away anytime soon for immigration purposes. Just imagine the backlash in the US/EU if the voting public finds out that people without degrees can now move to their countries. Many will link his to a mass-movement of unskilled and unwanted labor as opposed to talented and hardworking individuals.

That's very sad, but I suppose I can take a twisted comfort from it: the fact that this public attitude is unlikely to change in my productive lifetime means, it's worth girding down and getting a degree. At least it's unlikely that 10 years later I'll regret the time I wasted chasing a piece (or two) of paper(s) ~6 years prior.

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