You do not have to pay tuition or special fees to take courses and learn useful information. There are several opportunities to use the Internet to get up-to-speed or learn something new.
One of the easy ways to do this is to type in the topic you want to know about in a search window such as Google and then check your options. You may also narrow your search by including the words “youtube” with your search term if video presentations are your preference. Try this example: beer making youtube.
Other opportunities for online learning can be found at the Khan Academy and at TED. Local libraries, such as Worth and Green Hills, are also providing access for their own patrons to Universal Class which has academic subjects as well as other useful information such as animal care and training. Although Universal Class is fee-based, the public library offers this to its patrons at no cost. Contact your own public library, but check out the Universal Class website to see what is available.
For the more academic minded, type in “OpenCourseWare” into a search engine and see the availability of college courses across the academic world from MIT to the University of California. Try this link to the Google results.