FYI, Harvard isn't "free," by any means. With room and board you're looking at $80k per year. Their admissions policy is need-blind, like most universities. This means they don't take an applicant's financial situation into account. (Officially, at least.)
Once you're accepted, most universities will work with you to put together a package of financial aid and loans to make it happen. This is how I wound up at a college my broke-ass parents could have never afforded.
The caveat is that (as whiny, inferior white victim types will tell you), there are many scholarships and grants out there that are only available to minorities. None of which come close to making up for 200 years of institutional and ongoing societal discrimination in this country.
So stop whining about DEI, losers, or Da Jooz. You're being played. A white man in the USA is still born on third base and if things didn't work out it's because you're dumb and/or lazy, period.