Millions of young people worldwide have no access to higher education because of wars, disasters, or poverty. But a California-based online school is trying to help change that. The nonprofit University of the People serves about 6,000 students in 180 countries, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Rwanda and Haiti. Tuition is free and volunteer professors teach courses in business, computer science, and health. Mariam Hammad, 22, was a student at the University of Aleppo last year when it was hit by rockets in Syria’s brutal civil war, killing dozens. She enrolled at the University of the People to pursue a business degree; with electricity , she goes to a local cafe with a gas-powered generator to charge her computer. “It will help me to rebuild my country and everything that’s been destroyed,” Hammad told the BBC. The University has 500 Syrian students and has committed to teaching 1,000 more. Says school founder Shai Reshef: “We are an alternative for those who have no other alternative.”