Can I enroll in DEDP courses now but submit payment later?

Yes! You are welcome to enroll in any DEDP course as an Audit (free) learner, without submitting any payment. In DEDP MicroMasters courses, Audit track learners experience the same course material but cannot take the Proctored Exam at the end of the course to earn the Course Certificate. Only Verified/Certificate (Paid) track learners are eligible to sit for the Proctored Exam at the end of the course session and earn a MicroMasters Course Certificate.

The DEDP MicroMasters Program encourages learners to take each DEDP course as many times as they wish. It is not a violation of the Honor Code to enroll in the same course multiple times.

Once you take a DEDP course on the Audit track, you will earn a partial Course Score. Then, when you are ready to submit payment for the course and take its proctored exam to earn your Course Certificate, you will need to enroll in it again. You must enroll in a current or future session of the course and submit payment before the session's payment deadline to upgrade to the Verified/Certificate (Paid) enrollment track.

If you are happy with the partial Course Score that you earned when you took the course on the Audit track, you may import your score from the previous course session. To do so, you will need to reach out to the Course Team once the process is available. Typically, the DEDP teams allow requests to import previous sessions' Course Scores near the end of each course session—once Onboarding for the Proctored Exam becomes available. Instructions to request a Score Import will be provided within the courseware and as a Course Update. Keep in mind that not all DEDP courses are offered in each DEDP term.

Important Notes

Since September 2022, payment for DEDP courses is tied to the specific course session in which you submit payment—you will be eligible to sit for the Proctored Exam at the end of that specific term only.

In the past, learners could submit payment for a DEDP course and then wait to take the Proctored Exam at the end of any future DEDP term. This is no longer possible. If a learner wishes to take a proctored exam, the learner must submit payment before the specific term's payment deadline. 

For Example: If you complete the DEDP course 14.310x Data Analysis for Social Scientists in the Spring 2023 term on the Audit track, and you decide to take the course again in the Summer 2023 term on the Paid track to sit for the Proctored Exam and earn the Course Certificate, you must do the following:

• Enroll in the Summer 2023 session of the course on MITx Online
• Submit payment to upgrade your course enrollment to the Verified/Certificate (Paid) track (you can do this at the same time you enroll in the course!)
• Either:
  • Re-do the coursework, or
  • Import your Course Score from the Spring 2023 course session
• Sit for the Proctored Exam at the end of the course

For more information about submitting payment to upgrade your status to Verified (paid), please refer to this FAQ article.

For a full explanation of the eligibility criteria for earning a MicroMasters Course Certificate, including course score calculation examples, please refer to the FAQ article How do I earn the Course Certificate for a DEDP MicroMasters course? For more information about DEDP Proctored Exams, please refer to the About Proctored Exams section of our FAQ.

Please refer to the DEDP Program's Upcoming Dates page for important DEDP dates, including Payment Deadlines.