Is EdX Legit? [Best Alternative For Expensive Colleges?!]

I tried EdX years ago to learn more about psychology and business subjects using the free version just to have a feel of the platform.

As much as it promises a decent curriculum to students like me, EdX makes it feel like you have to purchase the course to experience its features best.

You can’t interact with other students and the professor as well as access to some lessons unless if you pay for them.

Unlike Udemy, its closest rival, EdX doesn’t offer special discounts or coupons to its courses.

Probably, that’s because it’s within the prerogative of the universities that handle the course resulting in its inability to provide limited discounts and such to its target market. 

In comparison to many education programs and third-party affiliate platforms, EdX relies on an affiliate middle person that asks for a small amount before your account activation.

Not only that amount you’re concerned of but also the approval. So, you have to wait for the next month (with uncertainty) to get the refund.

That is if you reach the threshold to redeem the amount in your account. Otherwise, you have to wait for the next few months before you get your $5 back.

There are some courses in which it discusses too basic lessons that could be found on the internet. For instance, you want to learn about marketing.

From the course description, it guarantees you a comprehensive discussion about the subject. However, when you get into the classroom, you see the basic lessons, too basic to learn.

On the brighter side, perhaps it’s included in the list for the sake of those who haven’t learned the subject per se and might want to have a prerequisite.

There are many dissatisfied students on one forum in which they pointed out EdX terrible customer service, especially the non-existence of the telephone number to call for concerns and other inevitable issues on joining classes.

"It takes ages for them to respond to an email. Their platform was down at the time of the test for a course I had paid for $200 and was showing a message that the EdX staff were working to fix," a student named MK wrote on the forum.

You certainly learn a lot when you go to EdX for online learning. For free courses, although limited, you still grasp the basics of the subject regardless of its category and the school in-charge.

I used the above-mentioned platform to learn entrepreneurship and psychology as an extension to my knowledge base and so far, EdX has done a great job on that.

The SiteJabber, as well as TrustPilot, showed the summary of satisfaction from EdX target market, which is quite high for an online learning platform.

Although it fails to satisfy the audience on HighYa, EdX obviously managed to get an average of 4.5 out of 5 customer rating based on the services it offers and how these people felt satisfied with the learning per se. 

According to one user named Cary, he loves EdX because of the diversity of courses he can choose from legit partners.

It's a plus point for him that it also caters to the non-English-speaking students by having some of the lessons translated to other languages. 

By simply paying the course ranging from $50 to $300 you can have an issuable certification from the school proving you’ve taken the subject.

Whenever you apply for jobs, you can present these records and the company you’re applying can verify that you’ve studied the course Harvard University offered, for example.

Alex, another student, supported the review by saying, "I have done 2 classes through EdX so far and they have been powerful.

The classes are really interesting and the way they are set up for new students to follow. I would definitely recommend people [to] check it out." 

Ashley also wrote the same in which she described her overall experience with the program as a brilliant learning resource.

"I especially like the fact that, for the courses that interest me, you can upgrade to a verified certification when it suits you."

On the other hand, there are a few students who wrote their dissatisfaction on forums sharing about how they felt EdX as a form of a scam.

"Two courses so far and very sloppy, full of text errors, instructors are brief, navigating the platform is confusing and seeing your grades or progress is confusing as well. Seems like a massive scam to me. Very frustrated indeed," he wrote. 

There are also some who complained about the outdated information discussed in the course, which they also find frustrating since they invested a lot of money to learn new stuff on the subject.