University of Colorado Boulder
A 30-credit-hour online data science master’s delivered entirely on Coursera, priced at $525 per credit hour for $15,750 in total. Admission is performance-based rather than application-based: students qualify by completing a three-course pathway with a GPA of 3.0 or higher, and there are no formal prerequisites or required background. Coursework mixes lecture videos, hands-on projects and contact with instructors and peers, at roughly four to six hours per week per course, and the degree can be finished in about 24 months studying full time. Enrolment runs in periodic intakes rather than continuously.