MORE MONEY FOR ONLINE SCHOOLS
US colleges will no longer be required to deliver at least half their courses on a campus in order to qualify for federal student aid. What this means is that students of schools which primarily utilize an online delivery system will have access to federal student aid.

In the short-run this is a boom for some of the for-profit institutions, such as the University of Phoenix, which are in the position to quickly expand their online offerings. In the long-run, though, I foresee several of the traditional not-for-profit brick and mortar institutions expanding their distance education programs -- most likely to the point where these programs will overshadow their on-campus programs.

Moving this direction will be a political nightmare for schools with strong faculty unions locked into the academic status quo (and interested in job security). However, many smaller institutions, perhaps in rural areas, will develop an online presence which may actually keep the brick and mortar aspects of the school solvent.