Attending an American college for a bachelor’s degree could easily cost you more than $150,000.00.   The majority of households in the U.S. can not afford the luxury of paying for a college education.   At the same time, American’s 1.3 trillion of worth student debt continues to compound.  If you are interested in attending a quality school tuition-free, or for very little,  here are your answers:

Attending Public Colleges

All 50 states, along with the federal government, have considered offering  “tuition-free” college education its citizens. This has been a hot topic ever since the media caught wind Bernie Sander’s discussed this idea of his presidential campaign trail.

Here is a summary of what we know has transpired thus far:

  • New York State is the first territory in the U.S. to offer its residents tuition-free education at all public colleges and universities through the Excelsior Scholarship plan.
  • California may become the second state to implement this policy through its “Degrees not Debt” scholarship.   San Francisco is the first U.S. city to offer free community college to all students.
  • Tennessee has approved a tuition-free plan for adults over the age of 24.
  • More than 20 other states have either enacted or are gravitating toward to concept tuition-free college.

Tuition-Free Private Colleges

Please refer to our post entitled “Top Tuition-Free Colleges & Universities.”   In addition to some of the most notable schools in the world, we also list 13 other quality educational institutions that include liberal arts colleges, U.S federal government run academies, and specialty colleges at little to no cost. They are:

  • Alice Lloyd College (Kentucky)
  • Barclay College (Kansas)
  • Berea College (Kentucky)
  • College of the Ozarks (Missouri)
  • Curtis Institute of Music(Pennsylvania)
  • Deep Springs College (California)
  • The United States Air Force Academy (Colorado)
  • The United States Coast Guard Academy (Connecticut)
  • The United States Merchant Marine Academy (New York)
  • The United States Military Academy (New York)
  • The United States Naval Academy (Maryland)
  • Webb Institute (New York)
  • Wesleyan University (Connecticut)

 

Scholarships and Grants

There are a variety of scholarships and grants available of all kinds and purposes.  The money is for low-income students, children of veterans, outstanding students, studying abroad, all ethnicities, and even for students from particular regions or cities, just name a few.

U.S. government recommends you begin your search for scholarships, grants, and financial aid assistance at any or all of these places:

  • the financial aid office at a college or career school
  • a high school or TRIO counselor
  • the U.S. Department of Labor’s FREE scholarship search tool
  • federal agencies
  • your state grant agency
  • your library’s reference section
  • foundations, religious or community organizations, local businesses, or civic groups
  • organizations (including professional associations) related to your field of interest
  • ethnicity-based organizations
  • your employer or your parents’ employers

More Money for Your Education

 


Source:

Quartz: Internships from big tech companies like Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and many others may provide you with sizable salaries good enough for an academic year if you are attending a state-supported college.  Our blog post titled “$8,000 Monthly Pay: the 10 Best Tech Internships in the U.S.” should give you a basic idea of summer internships.

Want to look for study abroad scholarships but don’t know where to get the info?  There are a couple of scholarship search engines listed on our page Study Abroad.   Please also refer to our blog post “3 Easy Ways to Find Study Abroad Scholarship Funding.”

The U.S. Government wants you to be aware of the many unscrupulous scholarship-search websites that serve no purpose but to take your money.    They claim they will secure you a scholarship, a grant, and/or financial aid all for a nominal fee. Some may even claim to offer a “Money Back Guarantee!”  if you don’t qualify.  This is not true, so don’t fall for it.