Canadian Permanent Residents studying in the US

My father and I (both of Russian nationalities) came to live in Canada from Southampton, England almost five years ago and are now Canadian Permanent Residents awaiting to be eligible to apply for our Canadian Citizenships (as you know, there's a certain amount of days one has to live in Canada to be able to apply, and we haven't reached that amount of days yet). For the past year after my high school graduation, I studied at a local university in the faculty of Commerce. After discovering that I neither enjoyed nor excelled in that area of study, I switched to the faculty of Arts & Social Sciences knowing that I always enjoyed and excelled at Arts. I also did some online research recently and found out about tuition-free universities in the US and other countries. One of them (Cooper Union, NY, NY) I particularly liked for its Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I'm planning to study at my current university for another year to improve my GPA and meanwhile go through the process of applying to Cooper Union.

So I want to know a couple of things about studying in the US:
- As a Canadian Permanent Resident, am I eligible to study in the US for a period of four years (Bachelor degree) or more?
- As a Canadian Permanent Resident, will I need a VISA to enter, study and leave the US? If so, what kind of VISA and other documents will I need?
- I know I'll be eligible to apply for Canadian Citizenship sometime next spring, so if I do go to study in the US next fall in the midst of my Citizenship process, will my Citizenship application be delayed?
- Any other 'studying in the US' advice I should know?

For those of you that know anything about tuition-free universities, here are a couple of questions:
- Are they hard to get admitted into?
- I know that some universities in European countries (such as Finland) allow students to work while studying there. If so, is it possible to go there without proof of financial support?
- Are tuition-free university degrees from European countries recognized in the US and Canada? Is a tuition-free university degree from the US recognized in Canada?
- Anything else I should know about tuition-free universities?

Now for those of you who know anything about Cooper Union in particular, here are a couple of additional questions:
- I'm expecting a 100% chance of being accepted into the Cooper Union BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) program because: I'm in need of complete financial aid; my father had $0 income in the past year; I have an excellent high school transcript; I've always excelled in Arts and have great portfolio materials. The only thing that concerns me is my current university GPA, which is relatively low. If I bring it up during next year, is it realistic to expect being admitted into the program? Same goes for other tuition-free universities.
- As a 2nd year university student, will Cooper Union consider me a freshman or transfer applicant? According to their website, transfer students are those who "have completed 18-60 credits of college studio art courses" or who "have previously earned a baccalaureate degree in a discipline other than art".
- Cooper Union expects proof of financial aid. Since my Dad still doesn't have a permanent job (he's a professional navigator and works on temporary contracts) and I won't be able to work because of studies during next year, is there any way to acquire scholarships from Cooper Union or other sources to support myself throughout my four-year education there?
- Any other information I should know about Cooper Union?

Thank you in advance! I know that's a lot of questions, but even if you answer one it'll help me a great deal.

You can study in the US as a Russian citizen, Canadian permanent residence doesn't enter it into it, however you may lose it if you spend more than two out of every five years outside of Canada so leaving for four years as a permanent resident isn't practical. So basically it would be helpful to get Canadian citizenship.

You will need an F-1 visa, have a look at www.amcits.com If you get citizenship you don't need the visa, the university gives you the I-20, you pay the fee, you present the I-20 and the receipt from paying the fee at the POE and that's it.

You can work in F-1 status, although in practical terms it's not of much use until the course of study is completed, these instructions explain the restrictions: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-765instr.pdf

They are a bit vague but basically you can work part-time (up to 20 hours a week) on-campus during the course of study; there is an "economic hardship" EAD if you've been there for at least a year (but I would never apply for it because it sets off alarm bells) and there is the OPT EAD, which you can get during the course of study but really it's only of major help after you finish as you can work full-time.

It sounds to me as though you need a scholarship in the US. Getting a scholarship under any circumstances can be hard and is even harder if you're an international student, plus you have to pay foreign tuition which is higher. You'd need to talk to them directly to see if there are any scholarships you can get and what the qualifications for them are.