Your future starts with affordable online college
Our instructors
$0 college for 1 in 2 Americans
2 affordable education paths
Degrees+
Earn an associate degree + boost your resume with job-ready certification from top companies like Google included.
College courses
Earn 3 transferable credits from a top 50 global university at half the cost of traditional college.
Fall in love with online learning
Top-rated instructors. Fun and flexible courses. And personalized support. All for 50% less than the average US college tuition. (Source: NCES)
Get startedDegrees+ now enrolling for the May 2024 term
Application Fee Waiver Deadline: March 21, 2024
Hear from our alumni
Frequently Asked Questions
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Unlike most things that sound too good to be true, this is for real. Students can save more than 50% on their college education with Outlier. For students enrolled in a Degrees+ program, courses start at $199 per credit. With tuition over 50% less than the the average US school, Degrees+ maximizes students’ financial aid and education benefits. In fact, 1 in 2 Americans could get their associate degree fully funded by Pell Grants alone (Source: NCES IPEDS, Student Financial Aid 2020-21).
Students can transfer their credits to the school of their choice and save over $20,000 on their way to a bachelor’s degree vs. the national average 4-year tuition. (Source: IES/NCES Digest 2021 Table 330.10)
Or students can opt to take one course at a time at $199 per college credit.
Our team has been working tirelessly to build a product that will make world-class education more equitable and more accessible, and change the way people define excellent education.
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For Degrees+, all US students age 13 or older with at least a high school diploma, GED, or equivalent are eligible to apply, except for residents of: Alabama, Arkansas, D.C., Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, US Commonwealths (Puerto Rico, Upper Mariana Islands), and US Territories (Guam, American Samoa, US Virgin Islands). We also proudly welcome international students (with TOEFL or equivalent)
For our courses and certificates, you must be 13 or older and willing to commit yourself academically to enroll.
Students in any of our programs should be ready for the academic rigor of college-level coursework. Be sure to pick the right program for your ability, time commitment, and long-term goals. Our enrollment counselors are here to help.
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Yes, you'll be able to complete courses anywhere in the universe with Wi-Fi and a laptop or desktop computer. (You can stream lectures in our iPhone app, but you'll need a computer to complete the rest of your courses.) A full list of technical requirements is available in Outlier's Help Center.
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Tutoring sessions and office hours will be scheduled to maximize compatibility with students’ schedules and availability. Exams and writing assignments (when applicable) are each open within a set window of time (usually several days for assignments, and 1 whole week for exams); however, all other course materials are available to you from the time the course opens through the end of the final exam window.
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We work with trusted partners to ensure you get real, accredited credit for the courses and degree programs you take with us. Plus, we offer support in transferring credits to your next institution if you’d like. Outlier-earned college credits have successfully transferred to hundreds of institutions, including Harvard, NYU, and many more.
For courses taken as part of a Degrees+ program, you’ll receive 4 credits per course from Golden Gate University, among the top 10% highest quality colleges in the US and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (Source: College Factual).
If you take individual courses through Outlier, you’ll receive 3 credits per course from the University of Pittsburgh, a top 50 US institution accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
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Yes, we proudly welcome international students from most countries, subject to certain limited restrictions under US trade law. Unfortunately, they’re not eligible for financial aid.
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If you have a request for reasonable disability accommodations, contact support@outlier.org. Please include specifics regarding the accommodation you are seeking. Additionally, if you have a disability accommodations letter, you may send that to us as well.
Outlier’s mission is to increase access to education, and we’re committed to ensuring that learners with accessibility needs have equal opportunity to succeed in our courses.
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Early on in the process of designing Outlier, we found that many students use their laptops late at night, and don’t feel like staring into a lightbulb. Too much white in the background of videos and active learning would be fatiguing and unpleasant. We also think it’s pretty neat that we decided to do this before Apple shifted everything to dark mode.