I agree in Utopia, everything should be free, but unfortunately we don't live in Utopia and won't for a very long time. The problem with living in Utopia, is that it's inhabitants would ALL also share a similar value system and be motivated by being net contributors to society ( welcome to the bee hive or ant colony), but then I suspect we all realize as individuals such a static situation in unlikely to occur and runs counter to our biologically selected attributes that have brought us to where we are now.

So who should pay for tall this free education- surely not the bankrupt state as some suggest.There are enough hangers on who refuse to contribute to society, yet have every opportunity to do so right now. Be pragmatic for a change, recognize Richard and Co are raising the bar in educational standards by offering a course for which there is dire need in today's society that is currently not available elsewhere.

As Cartomancer points out #15, the current established Universities with their entrenched curricula and framework would have little interest in offering something that represents "out of the box" thinking. BY definition such institutions survive on tradition,conformity and the status quo. Throughout the past real changes have come from the "elite" of society. Hopefully this venture will succeed and grow from its humble beginnings financed by the elite to something that will better the lot of all man kind. jcw