Is a College Degree Still Relevant?

This semester, I have decided to do more independent learning.  I am currently working my way through some heat transfer lectures on YouTube, expanding my knowledge of web-coding, and soon to begin some Python or C/C++ programming courses offered free on MIT's website.  Now, I could take all these classes at UT (in fact I will have to take Heat Transfer next semester), but it has led me to ask myself, why?
As the network of free information expands online, the traditional college experience is becoming less and less relevant.  UT is a very cheap school ($4,000-$5,000 per semester in state), but is this cost even necessary in order to learn the material?  It's not like my tuition gives me access to some special proprietary information (at least not at the undergraduate level), and while some elements of the educational experience still currently require one's physical presence, the standard class lecture is not one of them.  I can ask all the same questions that I would ask a professor on an open physics/engineering forum; I can read a free online textbook on the subject; I can watch lecture videos on my own time.

This rise of free information will soon end the traditional college lecture setting, and I think the students will benefit.  Imagine going to class just once or twice a week in order to meet for group projects, do lab work, and take tests, while spending the rest of the week attending lectures online at your own pace and schedule.  Being able to pause, rewind, and come back to lectures that were previously recorded is a huge advantage to having one professor for 100+ students, as he cannot possibly account for their various degrees of understanding and learning at once.  This format also allows for more flexible scheduling, letting people work full-time and still be a student.

I imagine that in 5-10 years, technologies like video chat and virtualization will completely eliminate the need to physically attend a university for an undergraduate degree, allowing more people to educate themselves at a fraction of the cost and time-commitment that college now demands.  The virtual classroom has advantages world-wide as internet access permeates third world and developing countries as well, and I believe there is no down-side to increasing the availability and quality of education across the globe.  If we can even hope to face the challenges that the next decade will produce in overpopulation and energy consumption, we must get more of the global population thinking and working towards a solution, so take advantage of the free information that is out there, and learn a thing or two in your spare time.