One of the biggest expenses to a family is paying for college. I know that it has kept us up late at night, and our kids are still very young. If you are wondering how you are ever going to pay for higher education, take heart. More and more colleges and universities are offering students a chance to get a good education tuition free. And, these programs have nothing to do with the normal scholarship avenues.
Tuition-free programs are closer to loan programs that don’t have to be paid back. There aren’t that many of these programs around, but the positive side for you is that not many people know about these programs at all.
Tuition-free colleges have been around for more than a century. Students can attend tuition free because of large donations and grants that are given to the schools for this purpose. There are many different programs around, and most will require that the student study in a particular area, such as liberal arts, engineering, art, etc.
Many tutiton-free college programs have some work study requirements that students must fulfill. These will vary by the program and could be anything from working in a school-related business, such as a farm, or participating in certain campus activities.
Tution-free programs are usually offered by colleges and universities that are already hard to get into, so it helps if the student is is doing well academically before college. Geographically, these programs vary, from city colleges to those “out in the middle of nowhere.”
Tutition-free programs can save a student on average $32,000 a year on tuition, but the student will still have to come up with room and board on his own in most cases. Still, it is a way for students to be able to afford college and graduate without extensive loans to repay.
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