18 Life-Changing College Courses You Can Take For Free Gallery

We bet you had no idea that you could take college courses from Ivy League schools for free. You don't have to be a student there, you don't necessarily have to be physically present, and the best part is that you don't have to pay. You can take college courses online that will change your life without paying a dime.

You can take classes focused on hundreds of topics — everything from Bitcoin to dog emotions — all by using online learning sites that let you audit classes at the nation's best schools for free. With these classes, you can further your career or even start a new one with the information you've learned. For additional fees, you can even get certified in your course.

The Daily Meal has selected some of the top universities in the country, and classes that we feel have the potential to change your life — and they're all free. Without spending a single cent, you can take courses from Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern, and Stanford all with the click of a button. 

This Princeton course will teach you exactly what Bitcoin is, how it works, how it's different, how anonymous its users are, how to secure your Bitcoins, and basically everything in between. Learning about cryptocurrencies from this prestigious university might not turn you into a Bitcoin billionaire, but at the very least it will turn you into someone who actually knows what a Bitcoin is and does.

Learn about contract law from one of the world's leading authorities on contract law, Harvard Law Professor Charles Fried. Students taking this Harvard class will learn the theoretical background of contracts, how to form contracts, contract issues, available remedies when a contract goes wrong, how courts interpret contract law, and more for free!

A course on the human brain can really illuminate what's going on in your own mind and in the minds of others around you. Connect better with your friends, family, and colleagues after this course, which studies functional human neuroanatomy and neuronal communication at the University of Chicago.

In 2018, the internet is king. Learning the legal and economic principles surrounding tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Facebook and massive cultural shifts like the rise of smartphones and streaming media can be worth its weight in gold, depending on your line of work. This University of Chicago class will educate you (for free) on all the ways law and technology intersect and what that means around the world.

One of the best ways to respond to the challenges brought about by the recent global financial crisis might be to understand the phenomenon. You can take this Yale course taught by former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner and better comprehend just what caused this crisis, the policy responses around it, and the current aftermath.

Nothing will change your life faster than happiness. This Yale course, which you can take for free, will educate you on misconceptions humans have about happiness and introduce activities that have actually been proven to increase happiness as well as strategies to build better habits.

Understanding pricing and all its challenges can create the best foundation for anyone interested in a career in business management. This free class from Columbia University will teach you how to address supply and demand challenges in a number of industries.

The perfect free class to take if you've already begun your career in the construction industry and want to advance it. This course from Columbia University will include real-world projects, project plans, project budgets, and identifying risks.

Learn how to solve problems and communicate in meaningful ways through this MIT class. Ideal for teachers of all kinds, Design Thinking for Leading and Learning will educate its students on how to take on the role of a designer for small projects and how to challenge others in their classrooms and workplaces using design processes to address problems.

This course will teach you how "banks can use capital as a tool to promote social and environmental wellbeing." This course will highlight the issues within the mainstream banking system in response to the recent financial crisis. By taking this course you can learn how banks can affect social, environmental, and economic change. Maybe it will even inspire you to petition them for change!

Educating yourself on the obstacles and regulations women face on their bodies from healthcare systems across the world is definitely the first step in realizing that things need to change. Change your life and the lives of others by learning how to be an advocate for women with this MIT course.

This Stanford course will teach you all about food and what you are putting in to your body and how it will support your health. It will address public health, the rise of Type 2 diabetes, and other diet-related diseases. Learning about what you're putting in to your body and how being a mindful eater can change your life and your mindset about your body and food, for the better.

If you're wondering why all the kids are getting the jobs you're applying for, it's because they know how to create good, click-y content that goes viral. This class will teach you exactly what that means and how to craft it. This course could be life-changing for anyone entering digital media for the first time, or again after several years.

Nothing is more valuable in this day and age than knowing how to program for the web. Programming jobs can be insanely lucrative, and life-changing for their salaries and the doors they open. Through this University of Pennsylvania course, students will learn JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, and other important tools.

There is no reason why taking a class on dogs can't be life-changing. According to the course description, "Dog Emotion and Cognition will introduce you to the exciting new study of dog psychology, what the latest discoveries tell us about how dogs think and feel about us, and how we can use this new knowledge to further strengthen our relationship with our best friends."

If you're feeling positively directionless and need guidance (or reassurance that nothing means anything and you can do whatever you want), then this may be the class for you. This free Dartmouth class on science, philosophy, and the search for meaning will trace the evolution of ideas about the nature of reality through the ages.

Our public health system needs some serious reform, and those who choose to educate themselves on it can be a part of that change. This course from Johns Hopkins will teach multiple perspectives and predict various ways in which the public health system could react to policy change.

This free course from Northwestern University will showcase to students the myriad of amazing job opportunities in medicine and healthcare. Professors will also share strategies and secrets on how to get those jobs! By the end of this course you could literally change your life by starting toward a job in a medical field. Don't know where to begin? Start by following these 35 excellent nutritionists on social media, right now.