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Pell Grants are means tested, so only low income families can take advantage of those, and there is no payback. But there’s lots of ways to finance your education without grants or loans.

In our state...If you use Dual Credit at a Community College while you’re in high school, it is tuition free and is paid for by the school funds that pay for public education. The same school funds that are part of our property tax bill and supports all the public schools, will pay tuition to the community college for a student who chooses to take classes at the local community college instead of at the high school

State merit scholarships in our state are paid for by the lottery. And they can only be used for in state schools. The original idea was to try to keep good students (qualification is determined by GPA and scores on SATs) in the state by offering them scholarships at state universities.

Grad school teaching assistants and graduate assistants get free tuition, and they are basically employees of the college (just not paid employees, it’s more of a barter system...there is a small stipend, but not much...the bulk of your pay for being a TA or GA is the free tuition.)

We know a young lady who decided she’d finance her education by using offered scholarships through private companies. So she applied to every scholarship available for her field of study through private companies. She actually made more money than school cost her by winning the scholarship competitions. It took lots of work to ferret out the scholarships and apply, but she accomplished her goal of paying her way through school without tuition coming from her parents, but rather from private companies.There are dozens of scholarships that are never awarded each year because no one takes the time to apply (usually involves submitting essays.)

Yes. My point was that the colleges can keep raising tuition because many students or their parents take out loans, and taxpayer-funded grants pay for the tuition increases of the "needy."

I went to community college for two years, then state for my bachelor's, and my employer paid for grad school through tuition reimbursement. I paid as I went and never took a loan.

Colleges will offer big scholarships to kids with good GPA (3.5+) and good test scores. Full tuition can be found for ACT scores of 28 +. The higher the scores, the more choices available. Google (or Bing) automatic college scholarships.

If a kid is a National Merit Finalist, some schools give automatic full rides when you apply early. If you have a HS sophomore with decent grades, have him spend time over the summer studying for the PSAT. It is given to juniors in October and is the qualifying test for National Merit. If your school doesn't offer it, ask them to implement it or find a (most likely private) school that will allow your kid to take it there. Find out now, because the high schools order the tests over the summer.