MOOCs are solution for highly motivated students who are generally able to get accepted by traditional universities, ace classes and graduate with little to no debt. They are not the solution for sub-par students who go to for-profit universities, could not get a job afterward and could not repay loans.

I consider myself reasonably motivated, graduated with almost perfect GPA and I still struggle to complete MOOCs. It's just too difficult to force yourself to study without outside pressure and peer support.

There is a fixed number of existing jobs. Mooc, for-profit and state schools all produce people who have to compete for the same jobs. The only solution to debt and employment is to make certain processes/jobs more efficient so that the extra time can be used to create new and better products/services/companies.

MOOC's are a response by the market to some of the problems of the current system. Time will tell just how well the MOOC phenomenon will turn out for us, but I suspect we're better off with them than we were before.