Senior News Line: Free college courses

In an attempt to keep brain cells active this winter, I have signed up for a college course. The good news is that it’s all online and it’s free. The other good news is that it’s sponsored by a major university.

It’s called Open Courseware, and I found my class on the internet. Yale, Harvard, MIT, Stanford and many others have “massive open online courses,” also known as MOOCs, and their main purpose is to provide learning opportunities.

You have to appreciate MIT especially. They make course material for their 2,600 classes “available on the web, free of charge, to any user anywhere in the world.”

Most of these open courseware classes are self-paced — do them when you want after downloading the lecture. Most don’t get you a certificate or a degree, but then most don’t cost anything, either.

Beware, of course, scammers who’d like to take your personal information and charge you for a class that’s actually free and doesn’t require you to sign up. Your best bet, until you’re familiar with open courseware, is to stick to the big-name universities.

For a three-minute video showing an explanation of MIT’s open courseware, see https://tinyurl.com/42kbv74w.

Read the fine print on the website as you hunt for a class. Read the syllabus — description of the course — and the list of texts to be used. If you’re required to read books, see if they’re free to download online. Some of the material downloads are huge.

Pay attention to the estimated time commitment for the course you want to take.

If you definitely want to attend in-person college but need financial help, see www.aseniorcitizenguideforcollege.com. Click on “Find Your State Tuition Waivers” and see if any in your state are covered.

Some colleges will have a link to an application for a tuition waiver for seniors. Some will just have a website and phone number to call for information.

Note: The Great Courses — at www.thegreatcourses.com — are not open courseware and will cost money.