How to Get Financial Aid from edX
edX is home to many of the web’s highest quality courses. Working with top universities and, on occasion, companies, they help create content designed to build skills and knowledge. With most of their courses priced between $40 and $79, their offerings are competitively priced.
Being inexpensive, however, doesn’t necessarily mean these courses are affordable. Indeed, that there’s a price tag at all means that some learners are precluded from enrolling. Thankfully, that doesn’t need to be the case. edX has generous Financial Aid programs so that those who need assistance can enrol.
edX Financial Aid Instructions
- What is Financial Aid?
- What about Financial Aid for Specializations and MicroMasters?
- Getting started with your Application?
- edX Financial Aid Application Instructions?
What is Financial Aid?
Financial Aid provides learners with the ability to enrol in a paid course either for free or at a steep discount. To qualify, you’ll need to demonstrate that paying course fees would cause economic hardship. This means that you may qualify even if you’re able to pay the course fees at their full list price.
Financial Aid is available on most courses. Receiving Financial Aid allows you to earn a Verified Certificate. Contrast this to taking a course for free on an audit track where you receive no certificate on completion.
Coursera grants access to courses for which you receive Financial Aid for free. edX on the other hand offers a discount that can be as high as 90% off the list price of the course.
What about Financial Aid for Specializations and MicroMasters?
Coursera Specializations and edX MicroMasters are names given to a series of courses. When you apply for Financial Aid to these programs, you must apply once for each course in the series.
For example, if a Coursera Specialization includes five courses, you’ll need to submit an application five separate times. If an edX MicroMasters has 7 courses, you’ll need to eventually submit 7 applications.
Getting started with your application
- Begin by filling out your profile information if you haven’t yet — ensure that edX has your full name, email address, and country of residence
- Visit the financial assistance page on edX and carefully read the messages, including “A Note to Learners”), before clicking “Apply for Financial Assistance”
- On the Financial Assistance Application form, select the course for which you’d like to apply for Financial Aid
Note: If you do not see your course listed, make sure that you’re enrolled and have elected to take the course on an “audit” track
- On the same form, choose your annual income range from the dropdown menu.
- Complete the remainder of the form by answering the prompts (see tips and advice below)
Once you’ve submitted your application, you should expect a response or a decision within 2–4 business days.
