Local high school kids graduating from the L.A. Unified School District starting in 2017 will have a boost moving on with their studies: one free year of tuition at the schools of the Los Angeles Community College District.
Dr. Jill Biden came to town to make the announcement alongside Mayor Eric Garcetti and Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom. This program is a result of the Obama Administration's America’s College Promise campaign which Dr. Biden has been leading nationally. Los Angeles will be the largest school district in the country to try an initiative on this scale and will likely bring the largest number of low-income students into the college system, according to CBS Los Angeles.
Any student graduating an LAUSD school who qualifies for in-state resident tuition at the county’s community college system is eligible for the free-tuition program, known as L.A. College Promise.
“The L.A. College Promise is a path for every Angeleno to earn a high school diploma and pursue the skills and education they need to realize their dreams and potential,” Mayor Garcetti said at the ceremony.
At least half of the funding for the first year of the initiative is coming from $1.75 million bundled together by the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, which sought private donations from philanthropists and institutions including the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the Los Angeles Dodgers, among others.
With L.A.’s rapidly rising housing prices and costs of living, hopefully the program will help prepare more young people for high-paying careers that will serve them well into the future.
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