This question is a branch from an earlier question about how to make higher education affordable. Some massive on-line courses are free for non-credit students but expensive for students taking the course for degree credit. There may be no source of funds to pay faculty salaries and course development costs except the tuition paid by these for-credit students. However, this is an instance of the innovators dilemma. A new entity might be able to develop such courses at a lower cost per student. But how could the new entity get the accreditation required to provide degrees comparable to the existing high-cost education providers?

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