How To Apply For Financial Aid On Coursera (2016)
Coursera is one of the biggest MOOC providers in the world, and most of its students would like to be awarded Course Certificates after successfully completing a course or specialization (a group of closely related courses). However, Course Certificates on Coursera are not free, and some Coursera students can’t afford to pay for them.
I’m sure you are one of those Coursera students who can’t afford to pay for a Coursera Certificate. But don’t worry, you can apply for financial aid. You may already know about that, so in this article I’d show you how to go about it.
Last year, I wrote a post on how to apply for financial aid on Coursera, but Coursera has changed its financial aid application system. This change is for the better because students can now apply for financial aid for specializations. So, the steps I mentioned in this article would guide you on how to apply for financial aid on its new platform.
Financial aid eligibility
To qualify for Coursera’s financial aid, you must show that:
- You can’t afford to pay for the cost of a Course Certificate because you don’t have the money to do so, or doing so may lead to economic hardship.
- The Course Certificate would be of a great value to your education or career.
- You’d contribute positively to the greater good of the course community.
- You’d uphold a high standard of academic integrity.
Country restrictions
If you are from a country restricted by US, you are not allowed to take courses on Coursera.
Applying for financial aid on coursera.org
Here are the steps:
1) Sign into your coursera.org account.
2) Click on the “Catalog” button to search for a course or specialization based on the following categories: Arts and Humanities, Business, Computer Science, Data Science, Life Sciences, Math and Logic, Personal Development, Physical Science and Engineering, Social Sciences, and Languages and Learning.
Note: You can also use the search box to search for a course or specialization you want to take.
3) Go to the course homepage
4) Look at the right and left sidebar of the course or specialization homepage. You would see a text saying, “Financial Aid is available for learners who cannot afford the fee. Learn more and apply.”
5) Click on “learn more and apply” to open the financial aid application page.
6) Complete the financial aid application and submit
Voila!
Note:
1) You’d get a confirmation email within a few minutes after submitting your application.
2) The steps given above applies for courses and specialization in Coursera’s new platform. If you’re working with the old platform, then here are the steps to follow.
3) You would be asked the following questions in the application:
- What is your annual income in USD?
- Which country are you currently located in?
- Please describe your financial need and explain the specific circumstances that motivate your request for financial aid. (50-300 words).
- Please tell us why you are taking this course. What is your interest in this field? How would a Course Certificate be valuable to you? (50-300 words).
- Please tell us why you are taking this course. What is your interest in this field? How would a Course Certificate be valuable to you? (50-300 words).
- When participating in this course, how do you intend to demonstrate academic integrity and contribute to the course’s community? (50-300 words).
Happy and prosperous learning.
