A recent editorial in the New York Times reviews some important research on online education in colleges and raises some serious questions about the current rapid shift to more—and bigger–online courses.

Research by the Community College Research Center suggests that community college students are more likely to fail or drop out in online courses– and that could mean tuition dollars spent and debt racked up for nothing.

As both the NYT editorial and the CCRC research show, we need to think carefully about who does well in online education—and who doesn’t. Is “access” to increased chances for failure really meaningful access?