I like this pricing model compared to udacity's new nanodegrees. This works better for people who want to rush through the course as quickly as possible. It essentially encourages faster completion.

You pay $49 per month and finish at your own pace. On Udacity you pay a fixed price of approximately $800 per semester with a trial period of 7 days. Since you are paying for the entire course upfront, you might realize after a few weeks that you don't like it. On Coursera, you can stop anytime and you've only paid $49 x number of months you tried.