SDSU + Coursera: Free Pro Certs for Every Jackrabbit
October 30, 2025 AIME, South Dakota
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The $100K Bet That Pays Off
Victor Taylor doesn’t do small stakes.
Last spring, the Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Extended Studies wired $100,000 to Coursera. Not for servers. Not for swag.
For zero-cost, industry-gold certificates—Google, IBM, Meta, Amazon—delivered straight to SDSU students, faculty, and alumni.
“Résumé rocket fuel,” Taylor calls it. “No tuition. No excuses.”
700+ Accounts. 1,000+ Goal.
Numbers don’t lie.
- 700+ users live (and climbing)
- Most popular: Google Data Analytics, Meta Social Media Marketing, IBM AI Ethics
- Fastest adopters: Honors College pilots
Greg Heiberger, Interim Dean of the Honors College, saw the spark first.
“Honors kids don’t want extra credit. They want extra edge.”
So they built a zero-cost AI lab:
- Compare ChatGPT vs. Claude vs. Gemini
- Debate bias in facial recognition
- Earn certs while dissecting dystopias
How It Works (No Fine Print)
- Log in with your SDSU email
- Browse 7,000+ courses
- Enroll in Career Academy tracks
- Earn shareable certs (LinkedIn-ready)
- Repeat—for free, forever
No cap. No catch.
Real Wins, Real Voices
- Computer Science senior: “Added Google Project Management to my résumé. Landed a Meta internship interview same week.”
- Ag major: “IBM’s AI for Everyone? Helped me automate yield forecasts. Farm co-op offered me a summer gig.”
- Alum (Class of ‘18): “Just upskilled in digital marketing. New remote role, 30% raise.”
The Bigger Play
This isn’t charity. It’s strategic alignment.
- SDSU Extension: Lifelong learning for rural South Dakota
- Workforce pipeline: Employers begging for cert-verified talent
- Regional exclusivity: One of the only universities in the Upper Midwest with this depth
Taylor again:
“We’re not replacing majors. We’re supercharging them.”
Next Semester: Alumni + Community
Phase 2 rolls out spring 2026:
- Alumni portal (free forever)
- Community access via SDSU Extension hubs
- Employer partnerships (cert = interview guarantee?)
The Bottom Line In a world where skills outpace degrees, SDSU just handed every Jackrabbit a free master key.
No debt. No deadlines. Just do. From the heart of the Great Plains, where opportunity logs in.
AIME
