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Colleges and Universities that Offer Free Courses Online

See our list of the top schools offering free courses online. Learn about what types of courses are available to find the school and courses that are right for you.

Take Free Courses. Earn Real College Credit.

Most free courses don't lead to college credit. Education-Portal.com's free courses do!

Here's how it works:

  1. 1. Watch free video lessons.
  2. 2. Pass an exam to earn real college credit.

Online Course Info and Requirements

Students who want to use the free university resources can go to the school's link, scroll through the list of available courses and lectures and view or download the available content. Although these courses don't offer access to instructors or award credits, they're self-paced and students don't have to register or pay tuition.

Education Portal at Education Portal

Designed specifically for web users, Education Portal has over 40 courses in math, social science, science, history, English and business. Courses consist of 5-10 minute videos, accompanied by full transcripts and quizzes. After taking a course, students can earn college credit by taking a credit-granting exam, such as the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) from the College Board. After passing exam, students earn 3-12 college credits that can be transferred to over 2,900 schools. Most exams cost less than $100. Students should check ahead to be certain that their school accepts results from these exams.

Carnegie Mellon University at CMU Open Learning Initiative

This university offers free online courses in the sciences, languages, engineering and social sciences. The course details list specifies required software or other materials. Courses include text and audio, along with targeted feedback so that students may check their understanding of the material as they work through the classes. Users may test and configure their systems before attempting courses by accessing the available link.

Johns Hopkins University at JHSPHOPEN Courseware

Students will choose from a variety of courses related to health and the sciences that are snapshots of the face-to-face courses. Users may read lectures from PDF files or listen to them in an MP3 format. The reading lists note textbooks and other necessary sources.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology at MITOPENCOURSEWARE

Learners choose from areas like architecture, engineering, health, humanities, management and science. Lists of available courses in each subject area have icons denoting what's included in each course, such as lecture notes, assignments, online textbooks, projects, exams, images, study groups or multimedia content.

Open University at OU LearningSpace

These courses often present materials through text, image, audio or video. Learners choose from topics including the arts, business, youth, computing, education, engineering, health, languages, sciences, law, math and social sciences. Students may access these courses online, download them or print them out.

Stanford University at Stanford on iTunes U

These multi-media courses and lectures are available in categories like teaching/learning, science, religion, social science, math, literature, history, health/medicine, business, art/architecture and engineering. Additionally, users will sometimes find supplementary materials, such as exams and assignments.

University of California - Berkeley at Webcast.berkeley

Students may access courses in many areas of the curriculum, such as art, science, business, computer science, engineering, health and math. Learners view webcasts of lectures and courses through YouTube and iTunes. Additionally, iTunes also offers audio recordings.

University of Notre Dame at Notre Dame OpenCourseWare

Students may scroll down the list of offered courses, immediately seeing icons depicting which ones include syllabi, lectures, assignments, additional resources, audio or video. Learners may choose from many areas of study, including Africana studies, engineering, computer applications, English, history, math, physics, literature and theology.

Utah State University at USU OpenCourseWare

These courses may implement text, image, audio or video. While some sources have available links, students may need to locate some sources noted on reading lists. A large number of departments offer courses, from anthropology to wild land resources. In addition, a variety of landscaping courses are available through the university extension department.

Yale University at Open Yale

Recorded in Yale classrooms, these courses are available in text transcripts, as well as video and audio on YouTube and iTunes. Each course includes a full set of lectures. Learners choose from courses on topics like astronomy, chemistry, literature, economics, geology, history, music and philosophy.

Earn Real Credit from Free Courses

While the free courses above don't award credit directly, you can earn credit by passing an exam and transferring credit to your college. There are two widely recognized and affordable options for exams that award credit.

Option #1: CLEP Exams

The College Board's 33 CLEP exams allow you to test out of your general education requirements. Credit is accepted at 2/3 of colleges and universities in the U.S.

Option #2: Excelsior College's Credit-by-Exam

Excelsior College offers over 40 exams that lead to transferable credit. You can also earn three full degrees by taking free online courses and earning your credit by exam.

Learn how Education Portal Academy will pay you to earn credit!

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37 Popular Schools

The schools in the listing below are not free but are popular choices among our users. Tuition and costs will vary across programs and locations. Be sure to always request tuition information before starting a program.