One of the biggest barriers in accessing higher education is the cost of tuition. With this in mind, University of the People was founded as the first global, tuition-free university, providing a higher education option for people who don’t really have other options, including those who are financially limited or live in secluded areas.

Inspired by social networking sites like Facebook and Cramster, University of the People is formatted like an online learning community where students from around the world share resources, exchange ideas, discuss class-related topics and projects, submit homework assignments to instructors and take exams. As with other social networking sites, each student creates a profile that showcases a portfolio of work, photographs, a biography, and is home to all of their papers, projects, and assignments for each course.

So, how is this a university, exactly? University of the People is able to position itself as a higher education institution because the course material is actually pulled from free courses made available online from universities around the world. But, what you learn from each course is directly proportionate to what you put into it. Because of its social nature, the value in this type of education weighs heavily on your engagement with peers and your reflection of discussions in forums, not just the completion of assignments (ever see Accepted?).

Instructors – retired & volunteer professors – monitor portfolios to insure that students are doing their assignments, moderate course forums, and provide access to online libraries and learning materials. What these instructors are NOT doing is leading the discussion, creating their own course materials, or using lectures as their main method of teaching.

It also differs from other online universities like Kaplan, University of Phoenix, or Argosy because students pay only between $15 and 50 in enrollment fees and $10-100 for exams. If you were to study business administration or computer science (the only two programs currently being offered), it will cost roughly $4,000 for students to complete their studies and gain a qualification.

Notice I said “qualification”, not “degree”. CNN misguidedly notes that University of the People will initially offer bachelor’s degrees, but the most problematic detail of University of the People is its lack of accreditation. Their programs might lead towards recognized undergraduate degrees down the line, but no formal degrees will be granted to students until the university obtains proper authorization.