It may seem modest, but I think this is a turning points in higher education.  According to this article, Arizona State has partnered with edX to create the Global Freshman Academy.  This new program will let students attempt any of 12 freshman courses (for credit) with a cost of only $45 per class up front. When the student passes the course they can choose to pay an additional fee ($200 or less per credit) to have those credits applied to their college transcript. Students who purchase the credits can can request an official transcript from the university to show their letter grades and prove their attainment of college credit.  They can use these credits if they decide to apply to ASU or another college. Anyone who doesn’t want credit can take the same courses with no upfront cost.

So one obvious difference is that you can decide after you take the class if you want to pay for the credits.  That way you don’t invest thousands, only to lose it all if you can’t pass. And these credits cost about half of what ASU’s normal online courses cost.

But what I see as the real difference is that there is no admission required to take these courses for credit. You can try a real, for-credit, college course without the application, admissions tests, essays, etc. The turning point in my mind is that colleges are starting to experiment with creative configurations like this one.