However....Even in professions that are highly technical such as engineering, medicine, dentistry,or accounting ( for example) much of the material taught in the classroom is very routine and changes little from year to year. Much of this information is well suited to certifiable qualifying exams. This could reduce the amount of time spent on campus and significantly reduce the cost to the student.
Of course, laboratories and hospital rotations are two examples of technical training that do need campus attendance.
Given the nature of my research, I seriously doubt that anyone would have been happy with me trying to do it in a spare bedroom. I seem to like research that involves handling dangerous substances...