This is right. The best thing MOOCs have going for them are their prices. And it gets more compelling every year as traditional universities continue to price more and more students out of the market.
The ONLY reason this kind of thinking is gaining leverage is because the cost of college. College simply is unaffordable for small but growing portion of the population. If the price did not keep increasing past the point of inflation year after year no one would question the value of higher ed.