Low- and No-cost Options for Skills Training

Below is a list of several options for where you can learn valuable technical skills at no- or very low-cost.

Before you get started, determine what level of training you need in a particular area. Don’t assume that you need the pricey certification for exhaustive training. For instance, do you really need the Project Management Professional certification or will a high-quality course on project management principles give you enough of the training you need?

Coursera Career Academy

Through a partnership between Coursera and UT System, every student, faculty, and staff across all nine universities in the University of Texas System now have access to Coursera’s Career Academy at no additional cost to them. Through the Career Academy, The UT community has the opportunity to explore a wide range of career paths, such as Data Analyst, Cybersecurity Analyst, UX Designer, Application Developer, and Social Media Marketer, and develop specific workplace skills that will enhance their qualifications for the job market.

Staff and Faculty sign up or log in through the UT-Austin portal for Career Academy:

Career Academy

Required skills for jobs are on the rise. A recent Gartner study found that “the total number of skills required for a single job [is] increasing at 5.4% annually.” That’s a tremendous amount of learning just to keep up with your job. And then there are those new jobs that are being created with a whole new set of skills needed from a limited pool of applicants.

With the rise in demand for new skills has come a burgeoning industry eager to capitalize on that demand. You have a lot of options out there for where you can get the professional development you need. While some of places offer training and certification with a heavy price tag, there are other options.

LinkedIn Learning

All UT staff, faculty, and students have access to thousands of courses through LinkedIn Learning at no cost. UT Learning & Development has curated collections on Business Analytics, Finance and Accounting, HR Professionals, and more. LinkedIn Learning also provides certifications that update to you LinkedIn profile automatically, to make you easy to find by organizations looking to hire people with your skillset.

LinkedIn Learning

Crash Course

At Crash Course, we believe that high-quality educational videos should be available to everyone for free! Subscribe for weekly videos from our current courses! The Crash Course team has produced more than 45 courses on a wide variety of subjects, including organic chemistry, literature, world history, biology, philosophy, theater, ecology, and many more!

Crash Course

Austin Community College (ACC) Make It Center

Imagine a place where individuals of all ages and their families can come for the ultimate hands-on career exploration experience, exposing them to career pathways they may have never considered before. 

ACC Make It Center

GitHub - Computer Science Video Courses

800 free computer science video courses you can take online.

GitHub - Computer Science Video Courses

Grow with Google

Now more than ever, Americans need digital skills to land the jobs they want, advance their careers, and grow their businesses. Grow with Google aims to help by providing training, tools and expertise. Courses include topics such as digital marketing, IT Support, and Data Analytics.

Grow with Google

Khan Academy

Created by experts, Khan Academy’s library of trusted, standards-aligned practice and lessons covers math K-12 through early college, grammar, science, history, AP®, SAT®, and more. It’s all free for learners and teachers. Find courses on computer programming, coding, Cryptography, and much more.

Khan Academy

Microsoft Learn. Spark possibility.

Build skills that open doors. See all you can do with documentation, hands-on training, and certifications to help you get the most from Microsoft products.

Microsoft Learn

MIT Open Courseware

Since 2001, MIT OpenCourseWare has been creating new opportunities for millions of learners and educators, sharing Open Educational Resources (OER) from MIT and helping to lead a global revolution in free access to knowledge.

MIT Open Courseware

Professor Michael J. Pyrcz, The University of Texas at Austin

I provide a lot of resources to support anyone interested in learning about spatial, subsurface data analytics, geostatistics, and machine learning. This includes all of my university lectures shared on my YouTube channel, along with well-documented demonstration workflows on GitHub. Anyone can follow along and learn.

Professor Michael J. Pyrcz

Smithsonian Learning Lab

The Smithsonian Learning Lab puts the treasures of the world's largest museum, education, and research complex within reach. The Lab is a free, interactive platform for discovering millions of authentic digital resources, creating content with online tools, and sharing in the Smithsonian's expansive community of knowledge and learning.

Smithsonian Learning Lab

Study Hall

In a partnership between Arizona State University and YouTube, Crash Course offers multiple, seven-week courses, including English Comp, College Math, U.S. History, and Human Communication—the type of classes you'd find in the first year of college. Students can watch course content on Study Hall's YouTube channel for free. If they want to take the entire course through ASU, it's $25. To receive credit from ASU that could then transfer to other colleges, students pay $400. This is not only a way for students to "try" college at a low cost, it's also a way for high school students to get a head start on college.

Study Hall

UT L&D YouTube Channel

Continue to explore a virtually limitless catalog of learning opportunities on the UT L&D YouTube channel. In addition to our own content, you will find a wide variety of other YouTube channels we follow for innovative and exciting content.

UT L&D YouTube Channel