diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/course_api/tests/test_views.py b/lms/djangoapps/course_api/tests/test_views.py
index ad243c1a5a..f7b32550aa 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/course_api/tests/test_views.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/course_api/tests/test_views.py
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@ from django.urls import reverse
 from django.test import RequestFactory
 from django.test.utils import override_settings
 from nose.plugins.attrib import attr
+from rest_framework import status
 from search.tests.test_course_discovery import DemoCourse
 from search.tests.tests import TEST_INDEX_NAME
 from search.tests.utils import SearcherMixin
 
 from xmodule.modulestore.tests.django_utils import ModuleStoreTestCase, SharedModuleStoreTestCase
 
-from ..views import CourseDetailView
+from ..views import CourseDetailView, CourseListUserThrottle
 from .mixins import TEST_PASSWORD, CourseApiFactoryMixin
 
 
@@ -100,6 +101,15 @@ class CourseListViewTestCase(CourseApiTestViewMixin, SharedModuleStoreTestCase):
         self.client.logout()
         self.verify_response()
 
+    def test_throttle_for_user(self):
+        """Make sure a user requests do not exceed the maximum number of requests"""
+        throttle = CourseListUserThrottle()
+        rate_limit, __ = throttle.parse_rate(throttle.rate)
+        self.setup_user(self.honor_user)
+        for attempt in xrange(rate_limit + 2):
+            expected_status = status.HTTP_429_TOO_MANY_REQUESTS if attempt >= rate_limit else status.HTTP_200_OK
+            self.verify_response(expected_status_code=expected_status, params={'username': self.honor_user.username})
+
 
 @attr(shard=9)
 class CourseListViewTestCaseMultipleCourses(CourseApiTestViewMixin, ModuleStoreTestCase):
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/course_api/views.py b/lms/djangoapps/course_api/views.py
index 0caeeed376..9eb75bdfae 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/course_api/views.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/course_api/views.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import search
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.core.exceptions import ValidationError
 from rest_framework.generics import ListAPIView, RetrieveAPIView
+from rest_framework.throttling import UserRateThrottle
 
 from edx_rest_framework_extensions.paginators import NamespacedPageNumberPagination
 from openedx.core.lib.api.view_utils import DeveloperErrorViewMixin, view_auth_classes
@@ -123,6 +124,28 @@ class CourseDetailView(DeveloperErrorViewMixin, RetrieveAPIView):
         )
 
 
+class CourseListUserThrottle(UserRateThrottle):
+    """Limit the number of requests users can make to the course list API."""
+    # The course list endpoint is likely being inefficient with how it's querying
+    # various parts of the code and can take courseware down, it needs to be rate
+    # limited until optimized. LEARNER-5527
+
+    THROTTLE_RATES = {
+        'user': '2/minute',
+        'staff': '10/minute',
+    }
+
+    def allow_request(self, request, view):
+        # Use a special scope for staff to allow for a separate throttle rate
+        user = request.user
+        if user.is_authenticated and (user.is_staff or user.is_superuser):
+            self.scope = 'staff'
+            self.rate = self.get_rate()
+            self.num_requests, self.duration = self.parse_rate(self.rate)
+
+        return super(CourseListUserThrottle, self).allow_request(request, view)
+
+
 @view_auth_classes(is_authenticated=False)
 class CourseListView(DeveloperErrorViewMixin, ListAPIView):
     """
@@ -196,6 +219,7 @@ class CourseListView(DeveloperErrorViewMixin, ListAPIView):
 
     pagination_class = NamespacedPageNumberPagination
     serializer_class = CourseSerializer
+    throttle_classes = CourseListUserThrottle,
 
     # Return all the results, 10K is the maximum allowed value for ElasticSearch.
     # We should use 0 after upgrading to 1.1+: