Comments on: A College Education for $10 a Course

By: Paul Waters

Paul Waters — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:37:16 +0000

Yea, you are right. We need to support the Teaching Company by buying their stuff new and directly from them as much as we can. They are definitely one of the absolute greatest sources of education I have ever come across.

I bought my last DVD set for $90 off ebay which means they didn’t really make any money off of me. Once I had finished studying the DVD set I looked in the catalogue to see how much the set cost on sale and it was $89.00 or so. I didn’t end up saving any money after all. I probably lost money if you factor in the shipping.

I am going to talk to my Library about ordering more Teaching Company sets. That is how I found out about it in the first place.

By: aurora

aurora — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:38:29 +0000

if enough people steal this material, you’ll literally put them out of business. they’re an indie publisher and i bet getting these profs in is expensive, i’m sure they don’t do it for cheap since these are the best of the best, and then there’s all that licensed material they use (i’m in copyright myself). there’s been an evolution in the quality of these courses that tells me the more $$ they make, the more they’ll put into making a better product. maybe one day they’ll make enough to change that darn set and get another music prof on board.

By: Asdrubal

Asdrubal — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:55:54 +0000

I graduated from college in 1972 and I feel that my general knowledge is quite limited because I never used my college training. However, through a used-book store I became aware of The Teaching Company. What an awsome find! In that book store I purchased all the complete sets of tapes they had… Shakespeare, American Literature, History of the English Language, The Great Principles of Science, etc. I spent about $200.00 altogether but I think I got a steal. And no, I am not going to sell any of them on eBay or anywhere else because I want to have access to them for second, third and more listening sessions. In the meantime I keep an eye out for items on sale on The Teaching Company’s web site. I drive a taxi and have lots of time to listen to the tapes as I drive (as long as I don’t have any passengers, of course); so, as I drive I am either making money or enriching my mind. Not bad! They don’t know it, but I am very thankful to The Teaching Company for the great service they do for society.

By: Paul Waters

Paul Waters — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:40:37 +0000

Brilliant article. The thought of buying a Teaching Company set and then re selling it on ebay just occurred to me as well. Once I realized that I could recoup about 90% of my money I was amazed. We can essentially obtain all the Teaching Company sets for $10 per lecture like your article says.

I am surprised that the Teaching Company would say you can’t make money off of the courses or re sell them in any way. I will have to double check what that other poster was saying. Does that even sound legal? If I buy something I should be able to sell it. That is my right as the owner is it not? That’s why I am buying it! Who can stop me?

Can anyone explain to me if it is possible to buy the downloaded Teaching Company stuff used? How or why or why not?

Personally I don’t like the idea of copying mp3’s etc without paying for them. It seems like steeling to me. I guess Kazaa and BitTorrent allow you to do that. I don’t see a problem in buying something used though. I know this is all kind of random. Any thoughts?

If it is illegal to buy and sell the darn things is there at least a place to rent them? A blockbuster of Teaching Company’s of sorts? I bet they won’t allow that either. If they remain so strict about this then people will just steal the darn stuff.

By: Doug van Orsow

Doug van Orsow — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:03:11 +0000

Greetings,

For those interested in Dr. Robert Hazen’s 2006 Teaching Company
course “Origin of Life” or his 2005 book “Genesis”, I’ve created a
phpBB forum for friendly, in-depth discussion, one lecture at a time:

http://teachingcompany.12.forumer.com/viewforum.php?f=17

No login is required to read, reply, quote or post. I see an
advantage of everyone being able to get through this course at their
own speed, though it might make more sense not to get too far ahead of
others.

cheers,
Doug

By: Patrick Szalapski

Patrick Szalapski — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:41:28 +0000

To be a bit more specific in the same way, Covenant Seminary in St. Louis offers 20 graduate-level seminary courses for free — audio and classroom, materials. http://www.covenantseminary.edu/worldwide/default.asp

By: Lite Reviews - Low Fat and Tasty » College level education for about $0

Lite Reviews - Low Fat and Tasty » College level education for about $0 — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:42:52 +0000

[...] On a similar note, JD Roth of Getting Rich Slowly wrote a post a while back, on how to get quality education for $10/course. Here he’s referring to the audiobook series by The Teaching Company, who produces high-quality recordings of university-level courses at fairly reasonable prices. But check out what JD did to turn those reasonable prices into $10/course. [...]

By: J.D.

J.D. — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 03:39:57 +0000

I just purchased two more courses from The Teaching Company: The African Experience and Broadway Musicals. Believe it or not, I’m deeply interested in both subjects.

Because I’m impatient, and because I recently came into a small windfall, I have disregarded my own advice. I’ve paid for the new downloadable format — which is inexpensive, really — so that I can get the lectures now. I won’t be able to resell anything this way, though…

By: James Welborn

James Welborn — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 19:31:25 +0000

I’ve been meaning to check out the offerings at the Learning Company, and after reading this, I did. I just ordered a bunch of the on-sale lectures. They’re definitely a bargain.

However, I noticed when signing up, the licensing agreement they make you agree to says that you won’t re-sell the lectures (or make money off them in any way). This may be new, but I found it interesting.

I don’t know what recourse they’d have against you for selling them on eBay, but they could probably get eBay to not allow their sale.

By: Marisa

Marisa — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 04:47:28 +0000

Wow, thanks for the tip - I’ve just checked, and some of these CD sets are available through my library system!

By: My 1st Million At 33

My 1st Million At 33 — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 15:09:08 +0000

Personal Finance Carnival #63…

This is the first time that I host PF carnival at 1stMillionAt33. Thanks to Flexo at Consumerism Commentary for giving me this chance to host PF carnival #63. If you’re first time here on my site, you can take a look at my SiteMap on the right …

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 17:32:35 +0000

The unfortunate thing is that you’re spending the money to be educated and you’re getting a good deal and receiving the education and increasing your knowledge. But unfortunately you aren’t building toward any sort of certificate or degree program like you could at a local community college.

Still a good idea though for personal development.

By: J.D.

J.D. — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 16:01:48 +0000

Andrew and Jen - you’ve pointed to some great resources, no question, but they’re not the same as what The Teaching Company offers.

The Stanford selections available at iTunes are rather limited. There are no complete courses, only a smattering of lectures (some of which look quite interesting). There are a lot of other Stanfor resources — visiting speakers, music performances, commencement addresses, etc. — but no full courses.

The MIT stuff is great, too, but it’s not something I can listen to in a car or while in the yard, gardening.

The Berekely feeds are the closest, I think, but the few that I’ve sampled are not *nearly* as good as those offered by The Teaching Company. For example, I have a passionate interest in Animal Intelligence, and Berekely has an audiocourse on the subject, but it’s not very good. The lecturer is knowledgeable, but his presentation is dull and lifeless, and he’s far too deep in the academic aspect of the subject to make it accessible. Also, the Berkeley selection is limited. (Though there *are* a number of courses that you’d never find at The Teaching Company.)

So: while these free resources are, indeed, excellent, they’re not the same as what The Teaching Company offers.

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:42:04 +0000

Yeah, I’m with Andrew. Why pay? Berkeley posts podcasts of some of their classes online for free:
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses/feeds.php

You can also download lectures from Stanford through itunes:
http://itunes.stanford.edu/

By: Andrew W

Andrew W — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 13:06:24 +0000

Let’s not forget OpenCourseWare from MIT:

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

While originally created for other teachers, its database of syllabi, reading lists, and class notes for hundreds of MIT courses is fantastic for self-learners. And it’s 100% free.