Coursera

Whilst Coursera used to offer a majority of courses which could be audited for free, promoting free access to education for everyone, a change of direction in 2024 led to an increased focus on short term profit, putting the entirety of the previously free course under a paywall ranging from {{US$|49}} to {{US$|79}}.{{Cite web|url=https://www.classcentral.com/report/coursera-preview-mode-paywall/|title=The Day MOOCs Truly Died: Coursera's Preview Mode Kills Free Learning — Class Central|first=Dhawal|last=Shah|date=July 28, 2025}}

Whilst Coursera used to offer a majority of courses which could be audited for free, promoting free access to education for everyone, a change of direction in 2024 led to an increased focus on short term profit, putting the entirety of the previously free course under a paywall ranging from {{US$|49}} to {{US$|79}}.{{Cite web|url=https://www.classcentral.com/report/coursera-preview-mode-paywall/|title=The Day MOOCs Truly Died: Coursera's Preview Mode Kills Free Learning — Class Central|first=Dhawal|last=Shah|date=July 28, 2025}}

Before this change, the free courses (also called "auditing a course") did not include a certificate of completion or grades or any other instructor feedback. A free course could be "upgraded" to the paid version, which included instructor's feedback and grades for the submitted assignments, and (if the student got a passing grade) a certificate of completion. This model still maintained respect for the teachers who chose to give rights to their content to coursera as much as coursera's main engagement which was to promote free access to quality learning for everyone. The new model however does not offer free education anymore. All of coursera's courses are under a {{US$|49}} to {{US$|79}} paywall to get a time-limited access of a single month, with, for most of them, the opportunity to get a preview, which gives free access to only the first module. One way to get free courses on Coursera remains through applying on the website for financial aid. This new model also offers monthly and annual subscriptions for the price of {{US$|59}} and {{US$|399}} respectively.. Before this change, Coursera had a stable model with revenues growing from $60 million to almost $700 million annually between 2017 and 2024 under previous CEO Jeff Maggioncalda.https://www.classcentral.com/report/coursera-ceo-jeff-maggioncalda-retires/

Before this change, the free courses (also called "auditing a course") did not include a certificate of completion or grades or any other instructor feedback. A free course could be "upgraded" to the paid version, which included instructor's feedback and grades for the submitted assignments, and (if the student got a passing grade) a certificate of completion. This model still maintained respect for the teachers who chose to give rights to their content to coursera as much as coursera's main engagement which was to promote free access to quality learning for everyone. The new model however does not offer free education anymore. All of coursera's courses are under a {{US$|49}} to {{US$|79}} paywall to get a time-limited access of a single month, with, for most of them, the opportunity to get a preview, which gives free access to only the first module. One way to get free courses on Coursera remains through applying on the website for financial aid. This new model also offers monthly and annual subscriptions for the price of {{US$|59}} and {{US$|399}} respectively. Before this change, Coursera had a stable model with revenues growing from $60 million to almost $700 million annually between 2017 and 2024 under previous CEO Jeff Maggioncalda.https://www.classcentral.com/report/coursera-ceo-jeff-maggioncalda-retires/

==Impact==

==Impact==