San Jose State launches online courses for credit

The pilot program, co-developed by San Jose State and Palo Alto-based Udacity Inc., will begin offering three entry-level courses for $150 each starting later this month. The California State University campus charges about $620 for similar classroom-based courses.

The online effort began this past summer when the governor called Udacity CEO Sebastian Thrun and asked him to help develop digital courses for California colleges. Thrun is a researcher at Stanford University and Google Inc. who launched Udacity to provide so-called massive open online courses, or MOOCs.

Brown said Tuesday the goal is to allow students to "graduate quicker so they don't carry this big load of debt on their backs for the next 25 years," noting that only 16 percent of Cal State students graduate in four years.

The initiative, called "San Jose State University Plus," is different from other online education programs because it will offer introductory courses for credit, charge low fees and welcome students who don't attend the school, officials said.

The pilot program will enroll about 100 students in each class, with half from outside San Jose State. It will target high school students, waitlisted community college students, members of the armed forces and veterans.