Academic Earth offers free online video lectures from universities such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale in a variety of subjects such as Biology, Computer Science, Economics, English, History, Law… and a whole lot more.

There's no charge to watch these lectures, and through them gain the kind of education that usually comes with a great big price tag.

Inspired by Hulu, a site that gathers television entertainment content available at one site, Academic Earth serves as an incredible repository for academic lectures that is as useful to students as it is to those who are just looking to exercise their minds.

What’s more, they have links to several programs in which you can earn an actual degree for free – I saw several from the U of Maryland and University of Massachusetts – though those are not always free.

They ask about your employment status, and so on – it is possible that those programs could be obtained for no charge, but not guaranteed. At the very least, they want to to apply for federal student aid to see if you qualify.

I was struck by how valuable a resource these lectures and other resources could be for college students – maybe your economics professor has an unusual lecture style, or you missed some of your English Lit lectures. You could supplement your regular class content with some of this material, and improve your grades quite easily.

So – I suggest Academic Earth to anyone either in college or considering going to college, as well as any of you who just like to learn new things. Broadening your mind is often its own reward, right?