I guess the online courses are good for woring people. However I don't think one should substitute a college experience (undergrad or grad) if they can afford to go to school. Access to facilities (including access to the large aomount of literature), the competitive environment and chance to interact with faculty are invaluable. Most Universities have accounts with a lot of technical Journals and one get access to numerous publications for free. Also it is difficult to come up with research ideas when you are not in a research environment.
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I guess the online courses are good for woring people. However I don't think one should substitute a college experience (undergrad or grad) if they can afford to go to school. Access to facilities (including access to the large aomount of literature), the competitive environment and chance to interact with faculty are invaluable. Most Universities have accounts with a lot of technical Journals and one get access to numerous publications for free. Also it is difficult to come up with research ideas when you are not in a research environment.