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You'll spend time enough this school year sweating over essays, presentations and other assignments. So why spend a bunch of cash on the software you need to accomplish them?

There are plenty of free and dirt-cheap programs out there to tackle your homework, from straightforward word processors to full-fledged office suites. Whether in the cloud or on your computing device, they can handle all sorts of course loads, with features that rival Apple iWork or Microsoft Office minus the price.

Here are 10 back-to-school programs to help you make high marks at little to no cost.

Tablet apps

Textilus - Microsoft Word Edition (free for iPad, $5.99 premium upgrade)

Textilus for iPad gets so much right for the low price of nothing. You can create and edit documents for Microsoft Word and OpenOffice, then plop those files into folders that look like artful composition books. The free app likewise dolls up your on-screen QWERTY with an extended keyboard that features quick keys for bold, tab and more, plus a clever magic cursor to swipe up, down, left or right to move the cursor.

Textilus also exports and mails your work as PC/Mac-compatible RTF (rich text format) as well as TXT (text), PDF (Portable Document Format) and HTML (HyperText Markup Language). Need cloud access? Textilus syncs with Dropbox and iCloud online storage services. It also works with Evernote note-taking software.

iA Writer ($.99 for iPad and iPhone, $4.99 for Mac)

OK, iA Writer isn't free, but it's so good it's worth the Washington to slap on your iPad or iPhone. The app makes tapping text a joy with a clean interface and smart keyboard extension that sports left-right navigation and handy punctuation. You can also output plain or formatted text to AirPrint-enabled printers, as well as sync documents via Dropbox and iCloud. The only real drawback to iA Writer: no formatting settings.

Documents Unlimited Free for iPad (free)

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Free, low-cost software for back-to-school