I wouldn't evaluate the course in a vacuum. Yes, there are good and bad courses with better and worse ways of explaining but many places have high quality cours

I wouldn't evaluate the course in a vacuum. Yes, there are good and bad courses with better and worse ways of explaining but many places have high quality courses (I recommend Udacity and Coursera). However, are you the kind of person who can power through a course? Do you need a project to work on? Do you need peers and a live tutor? First, know thyself. If you are willing to put in the hours, then the actual cost of the course is miniscule by comparison. Udacity and Coursera (and EDX) let you audit the courses for free anyway.