Costly Lesson: Economics of 'Free' College Education

As a pioneer in e-learning education who has taught over 250 courses online in the last 20 years, I realize the actual costs of education have come down dramatically in the last 30 years.However, that hasn't prevented the expansion of student debt to about $1.5 to $2 trillion.Most politicians these days are saying that free online college education should be available to everyone. With over 44 million Americans holding student debt, the average working family's disposable income is now more than ever subject to the whims of the Federal Reserve's interest rates.In case the politicians don't know, free education already exists. You may go to various colleges, online colleges, Coursera, Udemy and other sites such as University of the People and obtain education for free or it is heavily discounted.Udemy boasts over 100,000 online courses of which many are free. Coursera actually offers top ranked college courses and diplomas online. Many of these educational companies and clearinghouses offer online courses to the masses. They are called MOOCs or Massive Online Open Courses. Some top professors have over 250,000 students in one class.