Private colleges offer free tuition programs to make higher education a reality for many deserving and promising students.
To make education ever more accessible, private colleges have launched several enticing "affordability initiatives," which include eliminating tuition fees altogether as of February 2011. Some private colleges award free-tuition scholarships based on family income. Others emphasize a distinct field of study, while still others exact a mandatory work requirement. Many private institutions augment full scholarships with "no loan" financial aid programs that replace student loans with grants.
Work-based
Working colleges provide all students full scholarships with mandatory work requirements.
Alice Lloyd College of Pippa Passes, Kentucky, expects students to work 10 to 15 hours per week on a campus job matched to experience or preference. It accepts students from 108 central Appalachian counties in five states.
Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, exacts at least a 10-hour workweek in one of its 130 campus work areas.
Deep Springs College of Deep Springs, California, requires its all-male student population to work at least 20 hours a week doing ranch work and manual labor, such as feeding animals and mopping floors.
College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri, requires 15 hours a week at a campus work station, such as the computer center or clinic, and two 40-hour workweeks over holidays or vacation.
Focus-based
All enrolled students receive full scholarships at these discipline-focused institutions.
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City specializes in art, architecture and engineering. Webb Institute in Glen Cove, New York, offers a double major in naval architecture and marine engineering. Curtis Institute of Music is a prominent music conservatory in Philadelphia. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts, provides half scholarships to all. Two Bible colleges offer full scholarships also: Barclay College in Haviland, Kansas, and Saint Louis Christian College in Florissant, Missouri.
Income-based
Family income defines free-tuition eligibility at most private colleges.
Tufts University in Medford/Somerville, Massachusetts, and John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, assist students with family incomes of less than $40,000 per year; John Carroll University also uses grants to cover other expenses.
Cut-off family income is $60,000 a year for recipients at University of Chicago in Illinois, Soka University in Aliso Viejo, California, and Columbia University in New York City; Columbia University also offers free room and board.
Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, grants full scholarships to students with family incomes of $75,000 a year or less, as does Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, which additionally covers other student expenses with grants.
Stanford University in California provides full scholarships to students from families earning less than $100,000 a year and covers room and board for those with less than $60,000 a year family income.
Location-based
In Fairfield, Connecticut, both Fairfield University and Sacred Heart University offer full scholarships to high school graduates from nearby Bridgeport and Fairfield County; cut-off family income is set at $50,000 a year.
College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, invites city residents who live on family incomes of less than $50,000 a year to enroll for free.
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