Top colleges and universities are rushing into online education, but the big news is the proliferation of a new breed of for-profit online institutions bringing Internet education to the masses. “The Internet will probably be the single most democratizing force in education,” says Columbia Business School Dean Meyer Feldberg, who envisions educational programs being routed through the Net to hundreds of millions of people. The largest online institution is the University of Phoenix (http://onl.uophx.edu/), with some 6, 000 students today and hopes of reaching 200, 000 students in 10 years. The University offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in business management, technology, education and nursing. The institution boasts that if you're a student “you can earn your degree via the Internet whenever and wherever you want.” The University notes that its degree programs cost far less and may take some students far less time to complete. On the other hand, a Business Week survey of 247 companies found that only a handful would consider hiring applicants who earned their MBA degrees online. Whether that will change as for-profit online universities improve their offerings—and graduates prove their worth—is anyone's guess.