Like Scott said, in the UK there’s ‘The Open University’, which has been around for decades. You have to pay something for it, but you can sometimes get funding from the government to cover the costs. As far as I know, you earn real qualifications - exactly the same as if you went to any other college or university - and I’m pretty sure you sit the exams at an appointed time and place like everyone else does. Before the internet, there used to be Open University lectures broadcast on the TV - usually on the BBC late at night, presented by heavily bearded 1970’s hipsters wearing psychedelic ties and an abundance of brown corduroy. (Any British person over the age of 30 will know instantly what I’m talking about.) The film “Educating Rita” is about a thoroughly working-class woman (the type of person who would usually never have gone to university) gaining an English Lit degree through the Open University. (I must admit, this is where most of my knowledge of the OU comes from.) I think, in the past, it was looked down on a bit - like it wasn’t a real qualification somehow - but not so much any more.

I don’t see anything wrong with it. If it gives people who can’t afford to go to university, or can’t physically be at a certain place for hours every day because of illness/disability/family commitments etc the chance to further their education/earn more money/have a better life then it can only be a good thing.