I've seen a few hosts that will host you AND give you a free .com
name, but only like... 2. I was wondering if anyone knows of a
host that does that for pretty cheap ($7 or less).

$7 for hosting and a dot com?
Maybe a one month free trial with a $12 dot com, but what the heck do you want for $7 when the credit card processing runs close to a buck?
Save yourself a lot of complaining and just get a domain, and then get a decent host.

Yeah, I give up. I'm just going to get a domain name. Well, I'm hosted
on Tripod's plus plan, and all schools block it. With a domain name
will that allow it to see it now sence its no longer username.tripod
.com?

In that case, be sure to use a registrar that has domain masking, or url locking. The next problem will be that people can't bookmark a specific page. They will only be able to bookmark your main page.
Another alternative would be just get a different host.
Personally I block geocities, aol, and tripod. Most sites there are nothing but junk with lots of popups. I know a few good sites there, but not many.

Be careful about the ones that offer free domain with hosting or free hosting with domain. I hear a lot of complaints about them.