With the advent of online programs like Coursera, MIT's Opencourse ware, etc. in addition to certain college dropout role models like Bill Gates, Zuckerberg and Jobs, many have been thinking twice about enrolling a fortune to these big easy debt creating institutes.
Due to economic crisis, many have used colleges as security. So many that it has set the supply and demand of the academic world to imbalance.
The wise and able would hold a "better than no degree" principle. The ambitious would read a bunch of bios from famous college dropouts.
I believe this world of education is changing, transforming into both incredibly convenient and scary reality. That the old fashion type of enrolling to a university for $40k a year will be outdated, many professors would be out of jobs. The only everlasting notion of education is back to that of Socrates' programs, teaching the truly sincere students and a view of payment as secondary, as philosophers in those days were known for their jack-of-all-trades.
EdX is non-profit, while coursera is for profit.
Now Georgetown University is joining EdX (launched recently in May by Harvard and MIT).