MOOCs are free non-degree online courses with open unlimited global enrollment to anyone who desires to learn, and regardless of their current educational level.

Regardless of your personal opinion on the value of these Massive Open Online Courses, the current reality for many low income, and underserved student populations in the US, and globally is that these free open courses from some of the world's leading experts is a  partial win of the "Educational Access Lottery"©.

Today, MOOCs provide access to many of the same courses being taught at some of the world's leading universities, and by leading scholars and industry experts in all areas: 

The future of higher education is online. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are classes that are offered online, free of charge.

Access to free courses has allowed students to obtain a level of education that many only could dream of in the past.  This has changed the face of education.  In The New York Times article Instruction for Masses Knocked Down Campus Walls, author Tamar Lewin stated, “in the past few months hundreds of thousands of motivated students around the world who lack access to elite universities have been embracing them as a path toward sophisticated skills and high-paying jobs, without paying tuition or collecting a college degree.”

Although MOOCs are the latest trend, not everyone agrees that schools should offer them.  Joshua Kim Insight Higher Ed article Why Every University Does Not Need a MOOC noted that offering free material may not make sense for the individual university.  It may be more important to stand out in other ways.

They are low cost routes to accessing quality courses.