Skip to main content

Guide: How to Sign up for Coursera Courses for Free

 

Can you get a Coursera Certificate for Free?

Certificates were free in Coursera’s early days. Unfortunately, you can’t get a free certificate for completing Coursera courses now. You can, however, apply for financial aid for most courses if you can’t afford to pay for a certificate.

Some providers have stopped offering free certificates for completing their online courses although many free certificates are still available from a range of providers.

Free Certificates From Other Providers

Here are some popular collections of free certificates and badges from various providers:

For more free certificate courses, visit Class Central’s free certificates collection or articles.

Is Coursera Still Free?

Yes and no. A few courses on Coursera are paid only. These are indicated on Class Central by a small green $ symbol, as you can see below:

At the time of writing this article, a big majority of the courses have some element of “free” — mostly the videos are free to watch but you need to pay if you want access to graded assignments and certificates. However, Coursera still has many courses for which even the graded assignments are completely free.

You must sign up (Join for Free) with Coursera before you can see the price. Your Class Central account is not the same as an account with Coursera.

How to Audit Coursera Courses

Coursera calls having access to the free portions of a course “auditing the course.” I first came across this concept of auditing when I (Dhawal) went to Georgia Tech, where I got my Masters in Computer Science. I got my undergrad degree in India and we didn’t have the concept of auditing there.

Here is a quick definition from a university’s FAQ: Auditing a course allows a student to take a class without the benefit of a grade or credit for a course.

So when you are trying to enroll in Coursera courses for free, look for the word Audit after you select the Enroll For Free button. Audit does not include assessment items or a certificate, but lecture videos, course readings, and discussion forums are usually available for free. Coursera keeps tweaking their UI or testing different iterations so what’s on your screen on Coursera’s website may be different from our screenshots.

To avoid providing your payment details to Coursera, you need to select the Audit link.

Coursera Screenshot - Audit

What if the Audit link is not visible?

First, you need to find the course page. You cannot sign up for free via Specialization pages.

Most newly launched courses are part of a Specialization or Professional Certificate. Some older courses that were around twelve weeks long have been converted into Specialization format, with the original course split into multiple courses.

Professional Certificate and Specialization pages do not allow you to sign up for a single course. If you click on the “Enroll for Free” button, you will only be given an option to subscribe to the whole Professional Certificate or Specialization.

To audit for free, you need to find the individual course pages. If you scroll down a bit you will see a list of courses that are part of the Specialization. Click on a course name to go to the single course page.

Unfortunately, even though it lists the courses in the Specialization, the Specialization page may not necessarily link to the individual courses via the course name links. In this case, to visit the course’s page, copy the course name and paste it in the search bar on Coursera. Better yet, you could search for the course on Class Central — https://www.classcentral.com/search. We will also show you results of similar courses that are not on Coursera.

When you are on the course page, select the Enroll button and look for an Audit link as shown above.

Because some courses are part of more than one Specialization or Professional Certificate, you may see a pop-up like this one. Click Next, or first select the drop-down arrow to change the program.

The next screen shows the Audit link.

If you are on an individual course page and there is no Audit link, it may be one of the few paid only courses. You can check this by going back to the Class Central information page and looking for a green $ symbol for the COST.

Full Course, No Certificate

This pop-up appears for courses with free access to graded assignments. Simply select the Full Course, No Certificate option.

Coursera Screenshot - No Certificate

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

17 sites that will pay you Everyday by Typing

Wouldn't it be great if someone could pay us to do something we already do everyday? It turns out there are plenty of ways to get paid to type! Let's talk about the best sites that pay you for your typing and see how much you could be earning. This article may contain links from our partners. Please read  how we make money  for more info. If you’re like me, you spend at least a few hours per day typing, whether it’s emails, texts, or work documents. That time really adds up, so wouldn’t it be great to get paid to type? You may as well put your fast typing skills to work and get paid from  great side hustles . In this post, I’ll share some of my favorite places to find online typing jobs and how much money you can make typing words. Survey Junkie Want to make money from your couch? Survey Junkie pays out over $40,000 daily to its members for taking paid online surveys. Get your share today! Get Started Now Table of Contents Savvy Quick Picks Since we know some of you are r...
Post a Comment
Read more

25 Ways to Earn Up to US$2500 a Day using ChatGPT

  By utilizing ChatGPT’s advanced AI capabilities, users can explore 10 ways to earn money through ChatGPT In a short amount of time, ChatGPT, the text-based  Artificial Intelligence  model developed by OpenAI, has become immensely popular, attracting one million users just five days after its launch. With extensive training resources, the model can respond to nearly any type of query, making it a versatile and efficient AI chatbot. While some view its multi-tasking capabilities as a threat to human jobs,  ChatGPT  is also being used to achieve professional and academic success, as well as  earn up to US$2500 using ChatGPT . In addition, here are some  10 ways to earn through ChatGPT Affiliate marketing Affiliate marketing is one way to  earn using ChatGPT . Users of ChatGPT can also utilize this service to make money through affiliate marketing. One way to sell goods, services, and brands is through affiliate marketing, which involves promoting t...
Post a Comment
Read more

14 Faceless YouTube Channel Ideas (Make Money Anonymously)

  14 faceless YouTube channel ideas YouTube is the  second-most visited website in the world , with users spending an average of 19 minutes a day on the platform. There is money to be made for those who create compelling videos. But, not everyone wants to be a celebrity. Here are 14 of the best YouTube channel ideas without showing your face. 1. DIY tutorials Source:  5-Minute DECOR DIY tutorials make up some of the most popular YouTube channels–with some of the most popular DIY’ers boasting subscriber counts of 9 million and up. You can make instructional videos on anything from arts and crafts to plumbing, electronics, or cooking. Or, show off your skills with crafting videos or teach viewers how to make your favorite recipe. The great thing about these tutorials is that you never have to show your face. Many videos simply show the hands or other body parts of the person creating the tutorial. You can also have someone else do the tutorial for you. Or, use animations an...
Post a Comment
Read more