Google, Complexly, and Arizona State University have joined forces to create Study Hall. This new program allows viewers to earn free college credits online through YouTube. The goal is to significantly reduce some of the main barriers to higher education and make it more accessible and affordable to earn credits.
Brothers Hank and John Green are prolific creators who are popular on TikTok, have written best-selling novels that were adapted for the big screen, hosted a podcast, and much more. You might also know them from their philanthropic work, which includes the platform Crash Course, which was designed to offer free, educational content to help high school students with their curriculum.
Making College More Accessible
Cost is just one factor that can deter people from earning a degree. Navigating the bureaucracy of applying for admissions and financial aid can also create a barrier and let’s not forget the actual difficulty of classes. Now classes will meet students where they are already spending time: YouTube.
List of College Courses Offered on YouTube
Study Hall was initially launched in 2020 and provides students with helpful resources for handling courses and higher education systems, such as decoding FAFSA forms. This latest expansion of the platform will allow anyone to take core courses, including,
- US History
- College Math
- English Composition
- Human Communication
According to Hank, “Our college fundamentals courses exist to guide students through classes they’re likely going to need to take in their early college, to decrease the number of people failing and either needing to retake classes or drop out.”
How To Use YouTube’s Study Hall
All the videos are free to watch although students can pay an extra $25 to take the class with other students and a faculty member. To earn college credit from Arizona State University, and hundreds of other educational institutions that accept ASU credits, students will have to pay $400. For reference, that is about a 66% discount off what students can expect to pay at an in-state university.
The first four courses being offered will begin on March 7th. Students who sign up before the launch date will only have to pay $350 per credit. To get a better feel for the program and the types of videos that will be shown, you can visit the Study Hall YouTube channel. Once you are ready to earn your credits, you can go to GoStudyHall.com to pay the necessary fees and get signed up.
As an added bonus, you can take each course more than once and you don’t have to pay until you are happy with the grades you have earned. These credits can then be put toward earning a degree.
We want people to help people make good decisions and to lower the cost, especially in the early portion, so that people can get this info and this knowledge without taking big, dangerous risks. Everything you can do to lower the barrier, even a millimeter here or a millimeter there, is so valuable because there are so many people trying to better their lives.
Many agree that higher education has reached a tipping point that will require the entire system to make major overhauls to make sure that anyone and everyone can have access to education. Crash Course may be a sign of things to come and inspire more colleges and universities to come on board.
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