Is the open source community recession proof? Or at the very least, are some of the major distributions such as Ubuntu going to feel the effects?

I have just started a course that is roughly $17,500 CAD... It will give me 10 or 12 certifications, are they worth anything though. I have been reading that the CompTIA certification for linux really doesn't hold much merit at the moment and I was wondering why that is... There is a huge Microsoft component to this course I am taking... I'll post the outline later but even with the emphasis being on Microsoft shouldn't there be some mention of other operating systems out there? I have decided for the year and a half I am at this institution I will be keeping a journal and after every module I will post my findings to the Linux community about what we are taught in colleges these days.