As far as the housing and related charges at Harvard are concerned, these expenses add up to around $20,875 per year if the student opts to live on-campus.
Harvard is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where housing is expensive. The average one-bedroom apartment costs $2,255, so living off-campus will cost roughly $27,000 per year. Students who choose to live off-campus with roommates can save some money on housing.
On top of room and board, students will have to pay about $3,070 in other expenses and $1,000 for books and supplies, bringing the total housing and miscellaneous costs for on-campus students to $21,240.
Free Harvard online courses
Harvard offers multiple ways to get an education over the internet for students who want to get an education from one of the top universities in the world but don’t want to move to Cambridge.
HarvardX
EdX is a massive, open, online course (MOOC) website designed by Harvard and MIT, two top universities in the Boston, Massachusetts area. EdX hosts thousands of courses offered by colleges around the world, many at no cost.
As one of the co-creators of EdX, Harvard has many of its classes available on the EdX platform.
Through HarvardX, students can enroll in courses covering science, the humanities, art, computing, business, education, and other subjects.
Some classes are available on-demand, while others are taught on a regular schedule by live professors, just like an in-person college course.
Many courses are free, though students can pay a fee to receive a certificate that verifies their completion of the course.
Harvard Online Learning
Harvard Online Learning is much like HarvardX, offering online courses that students can sign up for from anywhere. Some of the courses on the Harvard Online Learning portal are offered through EdX, while others are offered directly through Harvard’s website.
Like HarvardX, many courses from Harvard Online Learning are available for free.
Students can take classes in subjects including:
- Art & Design
- Business
- Computer Science
- Data Science
- Education & Teaching
- Health & Medicine
- Humanities
- Mathematics
- Programming
- Science
- Social Sciences
Like with HarvardX, students who take a free course can pay a small fee to receive a certificate that verifies their completion of a course.
Harvard Extension School
If you want to earn an entire bachelor’s degree or master’s degree from Harvard online, Harvard Extension School is the place to look.
Certificates
Harvard Extension School offers certificate programs, undergraduate degrees, and graduate degrees.
Certificate programs are short, three- or four-course programs that focus on a specific skill or subject. For example, students can earn certificates in subjects like American literature, business communications, or corporate sustainability.
Undergraduate courses at the Extension School cost $1,880, and graduate courses cost $2,900. This makes the cost of a certificate range from $5,640 to $11,600.
Undergraduate degree
If you choose to earn a degree at Harvard Extension School, the first thing to do is enroll in introductory courses. At the Extension School, admission is based on your grades in entry-level courses.
To start an undergraduate program, you’ll take an academic writing and critical reading course and two other four-credit courses from your chosen program. If you earn at least a B grade in each course, Harvard will admit you to the degree program.
Harvard Extension School offers just one undergraduate degree, a Bachelor of Liberal Arts. You can concentrate on the Humanities, Social Sciences, or Science. You can also declare minors and a field of study, such as business, economics, computer science, and international relations.
There are some on-campus requirements, even for an online degree from Harvard Extension School. You must take at least four courses that involve an in-person experience.
There are many ways to meet this requirement, so most students should be able to find classes that let them do most of their learning remotely while still fulfilling the in-person requirements.
Courses that meet the on-campus requirement include:
- 15-week fall or spring semester courses that meet only on campus. Courses with the format “on campus or online” do not fulfill this requirement.
- Online courses with a required intensive weekend on campus.
- Active learning weekend courses (two credits each; you’ll need to complete two to earn full course credit).
- Three-week January courses that meet only on campus.
- Three- or seven-week Summer School courses that meet only on campus.
The average total cost for an undergraduate degree from Harvard Extension School is $30,000 - $60,000.
Graduate degree
Harvard Extension School also offers a graduate degree program for people who want to earn a Master’s degree.
Like the undergraduate degree program, you earn your way into the graduate degree program by earning a B or better in two or three introductory courses.
You can earn a Master’s degree in subjects such as Anthropology and Archaeology, Biology, Creative Writing, English, Government, and Journalism.
Each Master’s degree program requires taking 12 courses at Harvard. Like the undergraduate program, you must complete an on-campus experience. At least three of the courses you take must involve an on-campus component.
The average total cost for a Harvard Extension School Master’s degree is $35,000.
