In the real world, this is what free college looks like. This would be a great opportunity for students who aren’t sure if they’re ready for the huge financial commitment of going to college.

Rudy Takala of CNS News reports.

Education Venture to Offer ‘Freshman Year for Free’ Online

The non-profit Modern States Education Alliance announced a $1 million program to reduce the cost of attending college by providing a year of free college courses online to anyone wishing to enroll.

Last Thursday’s announcement came just weeks after President Obama announced that he plans to offer a “free” community college education to qualifying students at a cost to taxpayers of $60 billion over ten years, according to White House estimates.

Modern States is seeking to enable students to participate in Massively Open Online Courses, also known as MOOCs. Created by Stanford Computer Science Professor Sebastian Thrun in 2011, MOOCs enable students to take courses from prominent universities online.

Modern States will work with nonprofit educational provider edX, which partners with institutions such as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to provide the program’s coursework.

Modern States describes itself as a “nonprofit whose goal is to create a path to a tuition-free, high-quality and universally-accessible college education for any motivated students who seek one.”

“We live at an exceptional moment where the world’s most elite universities are offering their finest courses free of charge to everyone around the world,” the group stated on its website.