Where you really learn a lot is from your peers, which you wouldn't be able to do in an online course. Debates at lunch, in reading groups, and at the bar all made me a much better CS geek and programmer than any course I took. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I didn't learn much at all in the classes.
This is nothing against the classes, the profs did a good job and prepared well (for the most part), it's just that the sheer volume of knowledge inflicted on my by my peers couldn't have been in a lecture 3-5 hours a week + some homeworks.