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Comment by tmaly | Hacker News Reader

Freshman year is the real deal. Its where you meet new friends and bond. I cannot really see the value of an online only first year.

I see this also as an opportunity to improve the online aspect of education. I remember one of my electrical engineering classes had all the lectures recorded and available at the library. This was before YouTube. But it was great that you could re-watch them for points you missed. Better online material could be a boon for primary education. Imagine a public school with a low budget. What happens to the very talented students?

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In other words, you pay what you pay to attend Harvard, to a large extent, because of its network effects. And that is really the reason at the end of the day. This is especially true in areas where network is expected to be a big factor --think Economics, Law, Business.

And that's why you pay that much to go to Harvard, to gain access to their network.

That is even more so for people doing an MBA. It is all networking.

It really does suck you have to pay upwards of thousands of dollars just to get some brand name on your education credentials. And thereby having those credentials do opportunities open up. Have you ever seen Suits? The premise of the show was about a young man who gets into a top law firm in New York by lying that he went to Harvard Law School.

That's writing off a lot of the educational benefits of a university. YouTube lectures don't recreate the college educational experience. You don't get the group sections with the TA, office hours, personal feedback on your assignments, a group of students studying the same thing who you can work with, undergrad research experience, personal tutoring from graduate students (which undergrads at some elite universities like Harvard and Oxbridge get through their dorms), etc.

Most people don't pay much to attend Harvard anyways. Only the rich pay anything near full tuition. It's probably cheaper for the average family than most state colleges.

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