Initial Note: This guide is mainly for Master's degree in Finland. I'm from Lebanon, there will be a decent amount of facts and my personal opinion which might not reflect everybody's opinions...

Finland?

Finland is one of the world's wealthiest nations. According to some measures, Finland has the best educational system in Europe and has recently been ranked as one of the world's most peaceful and economically competitive countries. It has also been ranked as one of the world's countries with the highest quality of life. According to Newsweek magazine Finland is "the best country in the world" ( Some people disagree ).
Education in Finland is FREE even for foreign students outside the EU, however you will have to cover your expenses ( Norway has a similar free education program but Norway is more expensive, other than Norway I doubt there is a free education for international students). Note that the international free programs are in English.
Winter is dark,cold and snowy. Night can expand for several days in winter.

Eligible to Apply?

Bachelor degree in the field you want to study or similar degree depending on the requirement of the program
English proficiency, IELTS ( you should get over 5.5 or 6.5 depending on the program ), TOEFL ( I don't know maybe 580), note that you should take one of these exams and not both. There are two types of IELTS exams you should take the Academic. You will need to book around 3-4 month in advance because seats are full! I can't stress this enough, because if it wasn't for this nice girl that actually made place for me, I would have missed the deadline to apply (shoutout for the nice girly hahaha).
You will need around $9000 to apply for a resident permit, please note that this amount is proof that you can support yourself in Finland.

When and How Apply?

Application begin around November (2013), I encourage people to take the English exam as soon as possible because it does take a lot of time and some effort. Moreover, you might fail the first exam thus you should take that into consideration. IELTS is not hard but you are quite limited with time. So time is your biggest enemy, but studying and timing yourself should do the trick.

How to Apply?

Go to Finland Admission
Register
Wait for November so that the Programs are open
Then you simply choose the Program you want to enroll in
You have to write motivation letter and in some programs you need to add your CV and some information about your studies
Print the application form, add to it all their requirements, and send it to Finland!

Cost of Pre-Finland (more or less)?

ITELS Exam: $200. IETLS sending your result to Finland $50
Transcript from your university: $6 * Program you want to apply, yes you need one transcript for each Program you apply too , lets say you apply to 10 programs so that $60
Printing your application papers, each program will have around 10 pages. So 10 programs that 100 pages. So thats around $16
Sending the papers via DHL around $65
Since Finland doesn't have an embassy in Lebanon (WHAT!), you have to travel to Turkey, Ankara. So that will cost around $500 ( hotel, flight etc..) and the application form residency will cost around $400, to apply for a residency you need to show proof of money to show that you can survive there , you will need to show them $9000 as mentioned before and you need insurance, I still don't know whats the deal with this insurance thingy, its still confusing but it might cost around $350 per year
One way ticket to Finland around $1100
Total around: $2750

Cost of living in Finland?

Okay am tiered now :P in summary it will cost around $1200/month , note that this amount is like the low average. No playing around and nothing luxury, only the basics. House, eating, transport, insurance, electricity + water...

Finland Europe University ranking : (ref)

(109) University of Helsinki
(251-275) Aalto University
(301-350) University of Eastern Finland
(301-350) University of Tampere
(351-400) University of Jyväskylä

Reference and useful links:

http://www.studyinfinland.fi
www.britishcouncil.org (IETLS)
http://universityadmissions.fi
http://www.migri.fi