I recently graduated with my bachelors degree, a grueling but rewarding process that spanned three universities, seven years, and countless majors. I graduated just after my 25th birthday, too—my quarter-life crisis has been neatly accompanied by the freedom of no current academic obligation. In elementary school, the last day of school saw us released to the buses while the loudspeaker blared a song claiming that “School’s out forever!” It wasn’t true then, but it is now.

By the time I finally picked the major I would graduate with (BS Anthropology in the Cultural/Linguistic concentration with a minor in New Media Communications) you might think that I would be sick and ready to be done with college. My mom certainly didn’t understand why I dragged on the process, and if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t do it that way (I wish I had explored intro courses at community college instead of jumping right into a major at a four-year institution).

But I don’t regret the weird variety of classes I took as a result of my exploration. As a Physics major, I took Calculus II. I got a C, but by that point I had declared a Psychology and Theatre double major. I enjoyed Movement for Theatre, but I never wound up taking a psychology class (and I still haven’t!) because I changed to a Creative Writing major. I took an introductory workshop where I experimented with multilingual poetry and homoerotic fairy tales before changing to a Geography major, as I’d enjoyed a class on geomorphology…and then I dropped out for the first time (I would drop out two more times over the next five years).

Finally graduating is something I’ve been looking forward to forever because it means that I can shift my focus to other topics. Sure, I enjoyed my classes, but everything was focused on the same general information. During my last two years of undergrad I’d made lists, obsessively, of degrees I could get and in what order—not just masters degrees, but multiple PhDs, and bachelors I could return to, and I could fit in associates somewhere—and a few months ago it hit me, really hit me, that it was a totally useless ritual. I’m determined to get a masters degree, and if I play my cards right I could maybe fund a PhD, but I don’t want to devote all my time to school, for the rest of my life. I have loved ones. I have hobbies. I know what I’d do with immortality, but let’s be real.

This is for the nerds who would collect degrees like trading cards if they could. You want to keep learning, but reading a book isn’t enough. YouTube videos aren’t enough. It’s not a class. Where is the mentorship? The knowledge specifically crafted to give you the best overview of a subject? If you’re also an aspiring Jack-of-all-trades, you know that learning comes in all possible forms and opportunities. But if you’re specifically looking for a “classroom” style setting (albeit online and asynchronous, which personally I prefer), I’ve found some awesome free options.

My top recommendation is Gale Courses. It’s entirely free through your local public library (and some libraries, like Enoch Pratt, will issue digital library cards on their website so you don’t have to go in in-person to access the courses).

After I finished my undergrad work, I picked up a few Gale classes for fun to pass the summer—Classical Guitar, Travel Writing, Business Planning, Handling Medical Emergencies, and Intro to Drawing. No grades, nothing to turn in, but information and activities are given that actually help you learn. The best part? You have access to professionals who guide each course.

If you just want to lurk and see where you can get with Human Anatomy 101 on your own, that’s fine. But if you decide you want to get feedback on your writing in Guide to Getting Published, there’s a discussion area and an enthusiastic teacher waiting to engage.

While Gale is my top pick for general online classes, it also requires a library card. If you want an online classroom in a click, check out Harvard Online—it has some awesome political science, biochemistry, and music history classes I want to take sometime.

The fact is that college is expensive and increasingly inaccessible. You can do plenty of learning outside of academia, but if you’re looking for a more cultivated environment with feedback opportunities, check out what free online classes you can find. Who knows what you’ll find—and who knows how it’ll inspire you to create!