Close friends know that I am quite skeptical of education systems in general. And seeing how much higher education in USA costs - it drives motivation even further down.

Last year I found out about University of the People - a tuition-free university which offers undergraduate and graduate programs in areas of Health Science, Computer Science and Business Administration.

Tuition-free doesn't mean free. So far I discovered following costs associated with getting a degree - Exams Fees (about $100 per course, which add ups to about $2,000 - $4,000 depending on the program,) Application Fee ($60,) Proctor fee (if you use proctoru.com service - about $8 - $30 per exam, or you can find someone offline to act as a proctor for free.)

While it is not entirely zero-cost, it is still very affordable compared to other universities in the USA. And for students from outside of the USA, it gives a chance to get a degree from accredited USA University.

I was curious. I believe in completely free and self-directed education, but getting a degree from recognized USA university was enticing. So I decide to apply.

As a someone who received his education overseas, I have to complete English Composition 1 course before I can take any other classes. After that, I can take up to 2 courses in each term, which allows completing MBA in under two years.

Here I will document my journey.

So far I am taking Onboarding course, which includes a lot of information about how their process works, how to use their LMS, how to avoid plagiarism, etc.

Their LMS of choice is Moodle. And they rely a lot on peer-to-peer collaboration, including assessments. Peer assessments is a new approach in higher ed for me, so I am curious how it will work.

Looking forward to it!