Tuition-Free Online Universities and Courses

Earn a degree or complete a college-level course without worrying about tuition fees

Published in

Age of Awareness

5 min readSep 20, 2021

Do you know that there is a correlation between education level and employment opportunities? The higher the education level, the higher the salary and the lower the unemployment rate. For example, a bachelor’s degree holder may earn $1,305 in the U.S.A., whereas a high school diploma holder may only earn $781 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This correlation is also proved in Europe based on the statistics published by Eurostat.

However, attending tertiary education is expensive to many people. Some people cannot afford the tuition fees, so they do not get a chance to attend tertiary education. Some students borrow loans to attend the university, but they are not able to pay off their debt after graduation. According to Statista, the amount of student loans in the United States is increasing annually. So, how can one earn a degree without worrying about paying tuition fees and accumulating debt? Perhaps, the answer is choosing tuition-free education.

What Is Tuition-Free Education?

When a course is tuition-free, it means that students are not required to pay for its tuition. In other words, students can study the course without being charged. However, some administrative fees may still exist such as application and assessment fees. Charging these administrative fees would help the course providers to continue their operations.

How Can These Education Providers Offer Tuition-Free Courses?

While students can study the courses for free, it does not mean that the education providers can operate without any expenses. So, what are their revenue streams? Many foundations, corporates, and philanthropists support good causes by donating money. Obtaining their financial support becomes important for these education providers to maintain their operation and offer scholarships to their students.

Why Should You Check the Accreditation of Online Degree Programs and Courses?

When applying for online degree programs or courses, it is important to check their accreditation. This ensures that the degrees and courses, which you want to take and complete will be recognized by future employers and academic institutions if you have considered further study or transferring credits. The accreditation is varied by country. To understand the steps of checking U.S.-based online programs’ accreditation, refer to an article published by U.S. News & World Report.

Popular Tuition-Free Online Education Providers

University of the People

UoPeople is an online university accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), which is an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). It offers online degrees and certificate programs in 4 subject areas, namely business administration, computer science, health science, and education. For each course, one will need to spend about 15 to 17 hours per week studying it.

Regarding the admission requirements, they are varied by program. However, there is a common minimum age requirement of 16 years old. Even though there is no tuition fee for all its courses, some fees are still involved for administrative purposes. These fees include the application fee of $60, the assessment fee of $120 or $240, and the transfer credit fee of $17.

By partnering with universities, corporates, and foundations, UoPeople is able to provide more opportunities to its students. For example, its Associate’s degree graduates are able to transfer to the University of California, Berkeley to study for their Bachelor’s degree. Moreover, UoPeople’s undergraduate students are allowed to study some courses provided by Harvard Business School Online. With the corporate partnership, some of its students are able to receive scholarships and gain internship opportunities.

Based on the statistics published by UoPeople, it has 75,390 students with 2,888 graduates. Among all its programs, its Master of Business Administration has the largest number of graduates, whereas its Bachelor of Science in Computer Science has the largest number of students. Thus, these 2 programs are more popular as compared to other programs.

WorldQuant University

Founded in 2005 by Igor Tulchinsky, WorldQuant University is a non-profit education provider that is sponsored by WorldQuant Foundation. It has received accreditation from the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC). It is established with a mission of providing equal education opportunities to gifted people around the world.

Currently, it only provides 2 programs, which are the Master of Science in Financial Engineering (MScFE) and Applied Data Science Module. Both programs are entirely free of charge. In order to be admitted into the MScFE program, applicants need to have a Bachelor’s degree. The MScFE program consists of 9 courses, including a capstone course. For each course, it will take 7 weeks to complete and students are expected to spend 20 to 25 hours per week. Overall, it will take 2 years for students to earn the MScFE. On the other hand, the Applied Data Science Module comprises 2 units. Students will need to spend 16 weeks with 10 to 12 hours per week to complete both units.

According to the statistics released on its website, WorldQuant University has about 5,300 students from more than 100 countries with around 600 MScFE graduates. The top 3 countries of students’ locations are India, Nigeria, and United States. Therefore, it is providing a chance for gifted people around the world to learn quantitative skills.

Saylor Academy

Being a non-profit organization, Saylor Academy is founded in 2008 with the mission of providing free courses to worldwide learners. It has about 100 self-paced courses in various subjects such as business, economic, mathematics, computer science, physics, political science, geography, and psychology, etc. By scoring a minimum of 70% for the certificate exam, learners will receive a free certificate of completion.

For some of Saylor Academy’s courses, learners can choose to take the Saylor Direct Credit Final Exam and earn transfer credit by scoring a minimum of 70% for the exam. The Saylor Direct Credit programs are recognized by two types of parties. Firstly, there are 39 colleges and universities, which partner with Saylor Academy and recognize Saylor Direct Credit courses. Secondly, the American Council on Education (ACE) and National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS) recommend Saylor Direct Credit courses for 1 to 3 transfer credits. Thus, learners may be able to transfer credits to schools in ACE and NCCRS networks.

Although learners can study the course for free, they need to pay a proctoring service fee of $25 per attempt if they want to take the Saylor Direct Credit Final Exam. One can find out more details about the procedure of earning Saylor Direct Credit and examination information on the Saylor Direct College Credit web page.