Except it's harder :) I tried doing stuff on the MIT site and always fell behind - and of course I would never do the assignments that add real value to understanding.
The problem here is that your work ethic is not up to par because you can always think to yourself, "Why should I waste my time on this?" and not have an imperative answer ("I need to pass this class").
The major draw of a University education is that it forces you to focus and do the work. If you are driven and do not need the grade excuse to dig into a subject then you do not need to attend a University.
This becomes ever more apparent past the undergraduate level when you enter the workforce or a graduate program. You will end up going to classes or learning about material that interests you or is relevant to your work and you will do this without concern as to whether or not you get a grade at the end because all you care about is learning something you are passionate about.
I was in the same boat until I actually sat down and tried to do it. Look, the problem with being a self-learner is discipline, meaning discipline not to cheat by just Googling the answer. Discipline to swallow your pride that not everything will click at once so you may have to rewatch the lecture two or three times. And discipline to put your head down and go through the problems.
I'm doing 6.001 SICP course right now, the video lectures of Sussman and the other guy was mind blowing to me and most of it went over my head. I didn't quit though, found another resource for it in HTDP and am now going through it. The first part was easy, I could go through a chapter in 1 hour and do all the exercise. I'm now on the second part of the book and it's not so easy anymore, one chapter is now taking 3-5 hours to complete. But if I look at the big picture, it seems I'm par for the course as one is suppose to spend 10 hours a week per class.
