The MOOC Threat

One of the big new higher education trends is internet classrooms. Star professors from top universities teach on-line courses or new web-based colleges provide curriculums for credit totally remotely. The grand idea is that college degrees can be obtained without the high-priced trappings of campus life—you don’t need facilities, student housing, meal plans, or transportation back and forth. Students and their families now faced with the prospect of decades paying off student loans would get relief from education bills at a fraction of current costs. More people would have access to college and potentially the dividends gained from better employment opportunities. A better educated population will spur more business, innovation, and economic productivity, etc., etc. and etc.

So called massive open, online courses (MOOCs) sound like a great idea. But what would this all mean for real estate and the real estate industry? Over the last few years my friends at the Urban Land Institute rightly have been touting cities which have retooled around so-called “Eds-and-Meds” industries—major universities and colleges. These institutions of higher learning not only attract student and professor brainpower, but also many start-up and tech businesses looking to draw on the localized concentrations of high voltage intellect.