The problem is that they confuse information delivery with education. Information delivery is reading an encyclopedia, and that's not learning. But most distance learning programs today target working adults, not undergraduates, and focus on professional development courses, which offer certification rather than degrees. The Western Governor's University , for example, offers competency-based courses rather than classes for credit. But the move to dip into pockets of adult learners, with or without corporate support, worries some in the academy.
People wish to make money off the backs of adults.
Adults usually have the money behind them. They don't ask for aid and sometimes have corporate sponsorship. It becomes a way for universities to dip into corporate pocketbooks, and take care of the bottom-line. And with prestigious Ivy League schools and small private colleges moving in the same direction, academics fear that virtual degrees will become a way to cash in on a big name. What online learners will get is an asterisked degree, which is different from the on-campus degree.