Free Coursera Online Courses: 3 Important Things To Know

Here is what you have to know about free Coursera online courses with certificates.

Coursera has been helping people from all walks of life to pursue their dreams. This online education provider offers online courses, popularly known as MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses, from renowned universities across the globe, including Stanford, Duke, Penn, Princeton, Michigan, Peking, and HEC Paris. 

Some elements in Coursera are for free and some are not. To this day, some learners are still confused regarding what’s free and what’s not as The Coursera user interface (UI) is designed to push them towards its paid offerings.

The list below could possibly answer some of your queries about Coursera’s free services and courses.

What is Free Coursera?

In “Class Central,” paid courses are indicated by a small green $ symbol. Videos are mostly free to watch, however, you would have to pay in order to access graded assignments and certificates.

In the past, Coursera Certificates were free. However, many MOOC providers have stopped offering free certificates for completing their online courses. Instead, the provider allows learners to apply for financial assistance for most courses if they can’t afford to pay for a certificate.

Is the Coursera Together still free?

The pandemic has drastically hit the economy. To help the learners, Coursera launched “The Coursera Together” which made a selection of courses completely free for anyone around the world. It has new, free resources, surfacing interesting course collections, community discussions, and expert interviews. However, The Coursera Together is only valid through, and subject to change in 12/31/2020.

What to take note in enrolling for a free Coursera course?

After clicking on the class you like to take, make sure that there's a “blue promo banner” at the top of the page. If it doesn’t show up, reload the page.

In “Enroll for Free,” select "Purchase Course." To confirm whether the promo has applied, it should see "Your promotion will automatically be applied at checkout" below. 

At checkout, the course should be free and state $0.

Website: Coursera.org