Free College Courses

I fulfilled a promise I made to myself, to start my first company, before I was 30 years old. While starting my company I realized I needed more marketing and business knowledge. The answer to my problem was on the web. I found business courses, marketing courses, and lots more, offered free of charge.

Some accredited universities are offering free access to their courses. Universities are managing to break-down education barriers by providing their courses’ assignments, quizzes, syllabi, and tests. Free courses are ineligible for college credits. What can I expect for free? I got college level information that normally costs thousands of dollars. I learned a lot, and saved a bundle.

MIT, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), University of Texas at Austin, and Brigham Young University are a few of the universities offering access to their classrooms free. MIT admits the public into 1400 of their courses on the web gratis. University of Texas at Austin is a portal linking to hundreds of courses they offer, and courses offered at other universities. Brigham Young has a small free class offering. Nevertheless, the classes are informative.

Websites, companies, and individuals also are online sharing their knowledge without charge. My experience with free learning began at About University (http://u.about.com). About U is offered through the About.com website. About.com covers subjects under the direction of guides. Guides are experts in the subject, providing lessons that are condensed, and easy to follow.

I have learned html, research methods, and the business information needed to start my company. There are no applications, financial aid forms, and no waiting. My confidence tripled. Here is a list of free course websites to get started:

-About U http://u.about.com/
-GoThrive http://www.gothrive.com/ecourses/
-Smartzville http://www.smartzville.com/learn.htm
-FreeEd http://www.free-ed.net/free-ed/
-Free and Affordable Distance Education http://www.docnmail.com/
-Small Business Association http://www.sba.gov/training/courses.html
-MIT http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html
-LearnThat http://www.learnthatcom/
-Barnes and Noble http://university.barnesandnoble.com/index.asp?z=y
-University of Texas at Austin http://web.austin.utexas.edu/wlh/
-Hewlett Packard http://h30187.www3.hp.com/?mcID=jump
-Washington University http://www.outreach.washington.edu/openuw/
-Brigham Young University http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/freecourses.cfm
-Business Week http://www.bwcoursescom/