Westerly Hills/Ashley Park

Attend College for Free

Elite athletes have long gotten free rides at schools with
top sports teams. And many schools offer full-tuition scholarships for
especially outstanding students. But you don't necessarily have to be a
football star or math genius to get a higher education for next to nothing.

In fact, even the most expensive colleges are personalizing
their prices for students depending on their financial situation and talents.
Ivy League colleges, for example, generally offer completely free educations to
students from families earning less than about $60,000.

That makes it difficult to provide a general list of colleges
that will be free for you. (You can try to estimate your net cost at any
particular school using MONEY's calculator).
But we can tell you which colleges offer free tuition for all students all of
the time.

Alice Lloyd College: Students from the Appalachian
region get free tuition at this Pippa Passes, Ky., liberal arts college in
return for at least 10 hours a week of work. Students must fund their own
living expenses.

Berea College: This Kentucky college generally only
admits students from low-income families. It provides all admitted students
with full-tuition scholarships. Every student is also offered a paying
part-time job. Students are responsible for living costs, however.

College of the Ozarks: Students work off their
tuition at this Point Lookout, Mo., liberal arts college. Students have to fund
their own living costs.

Cooper Union: This New York City college specializing
in art, architecture and engineering offers full-tuition scholarships to all
admitted students. Students are responsible for living costs, however.

Curtis Institute of Music: This Philadelphia music
college offers full tuition scholarships to all admitted students. Students are
responsible for living costs, however.

Deep Springs College: This free two-year "cowboy
college" in the California-Nevada desert generally admits only 13 students
a year. (Currently all-male, it has announced it may start admitting women for
the first time in 2013.) Along with traditional liberal arts classes, students
work on a ranch. Many graduates have transferred to Ivy League schools.
Students pay only for their travel to the school and incidentals.

Macaulay Honors College at CUNY: This New York City
public college offers top students from anywhere free tuition (but not fees),
plus a Macbook laptop and $7,500 in funding for research, study abroad or
special projects. Students must fund living costs, however.

Military service academies: The competition is
fierce, and the workload is brutal, but the Air Force, Coast Guard, Military
and Naval academies offer free top-notch educations and living stipends in
return for, typically, at least five years of full-time service.

Webb Institute: If you're passionate about naval
architecture and marine engineering, this small specialty college in Glen Cove,
NY, will teach you everything you need to know, tuition-free. Students are
responsible for funding living costs and buying a computer and software.

International colleges: If you can study in foreign
languages such as German, Norwegian or Finnish, you may be able to win
admission to tuition-free foreign schools.

How to find free college courses

If you don't care about getting credit or a diploma, there
are thousands of free classes that will teach you something new.

• Public
       libraries offer many free classes, ranging from computer skills to
       language to business.
• Top
       schools such as MIT, Stanford, Yale and others are increasingly offering
       free online courses including videotaped lectures and reading lists. They
       offer a clearinghouse
       of free online courses.
• Many
       colleges post lectures on iTunes that are free to download.
• Some
       colleges will allow some students to audit (i.e. sit in on lectures but
       not participate in tests) for free.

Free online courses http://www.ocwconsortium.org/en/courses

Taken from http://money.cnn.com/101/college-101/free-college.moneymag/index.htm