Ask HN: Are there any online MS in CS programs comparable to Georgia Tech's?

The important question...why do I need to master the material to get a promotion? Is that truly what the next level role requires? Well...unfortunately, many times that's not the case, but someone at company X decided to use it as a filter. So in our free market economy, educational institutions who have a social monopoly on being reputable purveyors of education happen to offer something the market is demanding. I agree with you that an in person focused full time Master's program is meant for you to "master" the material. That's not the reality though and frankly, most people don't have the financial situations to allow for that to happen. Getting a Master's in the purest form of educational attainment is something you need to be rather privileged to achieve, or hardworking/lucky enough that you managed to get a crap ton of scholarships to be able to live off ramen while you're doing it.

I strictly disagree with you here.

Most of the content in a master's program can be found online (or otherwise in the relevant textbooks) -- if you're paying to do it as a class, you're paying for structure and the piece of paper, and that's about it.

PhDs are start-level research jobs. You'll probably learn things (equivalent to a master's) during your first year or two, but you'll become an expert in your field via a PhD because of the fact that no one else is working on the topic to the same degree of depth that you will be.

(In fact, the fact that this comment conflates PhD with masters makes me suggest that the poster doesn't actually interact enough with folk that have either to have internalized the distinction.)

Mostly course work with a capstone project.