I went to Cooper Union for a year, and it's a freaking awesome school; besides having excellent classes (at least in engineering, don't know about art/architecture - it only has those three programs, so don't even think about it otherwise), it really is zero-tuition, no strings attached. I highly recommend that any engineering/art/architecture students apply, at least if you think you have a shot of getting in. They are not a "by-the-numbers" type of school, and they definitely have room for people with colorful backgrounds, even at the engineering school - just make sure your math is solid!

There is one hidden cost, though - you're going to be paying out the ass to live anywhere near the Village, and New York City is expensive. That was the main reason that I left. Well, that, and the fact that I realized after a year that engineering wasn't for me - it's not an engineering school in the MIT sense, where you're still going to be satisfied even if you're interested in pure physics or math, Cooper Union really is a school devoted to teaching you to be a practicing engineer.

Still, it beats the hell out of NYU or any of the other schools around, where you're paying both the exorbitant NYC apartment costs plus 40k/year for tuition, so it should definitely be on any engineer's list...

There is also Olin College, outside Boston. In fact that's what I thought this article was going to be about. It's only a few years old but it has a good reputation already.

Sadly, Olin's endowment took a rather major hit and is no longer tuition-free. It's actually almost $39,000: http://olin.edu/admission/costs.asp

That's quite pricy... The tuition-free thing served its main point though, which was to attract students before accreditation.

Despite that, it was cool to learn about Olin. They have some interesting practices and I enjoyed reading their Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_W._Olin_College_of_Eng...

Stanford, too, was founded as a tuition-free school. Sadly, they were forced to begin charging tuition in 1920.

The good news is that, a century later, the school is returning to its roots by offering free tuition to students whose families make less than about $100k per year.

And of course, there's the excellent free online material offered at Stanford Engineering Everywhere: http://see.stanford.edu/default.aspx