Free money that is actually free, and the loans that are not

The benefits shelf at https://benefits.soapbox.community classifies 121 US programmes by mechanism — grant, loan, cost-share, tax credit, insurance, or a free service — so nothing is ever called free money that is not. The house rule: never call a loan free money, and always name the free or cheaper path you have not been told about. Where a middleman charges for something that is free, the entry says so by name. Most of the shelf is not cash at all. The largest group is free services — expert help from a public office, not money — and that is usually the more valuable door. If an entry is wrong or out of date, post the official source here and it gets corrected.