By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-26 19:52:03 | Updated at 2024-11-29 00:04:52
2 days ago
College is notoriously expensive in the US, but some towns offer their young residents the chance of free tuition.
The tradition dates back to the 19th century when prestigious Dartmouth College owned the tiny town of Wheelcock in Vermont.
In 1830 the then-Dartmouth President, Nathan Lord, made a policy of offering free tuition for children from the town that qualified to attend.
The college's offer remains in place today, which means high schoolers from the town that get into Dartmouth could save $264,000 in tuition fees over four years.
Wheelcock's population is just 768, and the acceptance rate to Dartmouth hit a record low for the class of 2028, at just 5.4 percent of applicants.
However, with free four-year scholarships to the $66,123 per term school, saving a quarter of a million dollars may be worth moving for.
Moreover, houses in the area are considerable more affordable than the average home across the country.
The median list price in Wheelcock is $150,000, compared to the average $424,950, according to data from Realtor.com.
Resident of Wheelcock, Vermont, can attend Dartmouth College for free if they get in
The minimum income needed to live comfortably in the town is also considerably lower than most areas, at $33,180, Realtor.com reported.
With mortgage rates at almost 7 percent and home prices continuing to climb ever higher, families may wish to consider moving to other towns that offer free tuition deals.
Detroit benefits from the Detroit Promise, a program that gives recent high school graduates from Detroit free college education at 26 local community colleges and universities.
Detroit is also an affordable place to consider buying a property, with a median list price of $96,850, according to Realtor.com.
Chicago is another major city that offers a similar assistance program.
The Chicago Star Scholarship gives Chicago residents who graduate from city high schools with at least a 3.0 GPA the chance to attend the City Colleges of Chicago with no tuition costs.
The cost of a home in Chicago, however, is a little more pricey than other cities that offer assistance programs.
It has a median list price of $372,000, which is still below the national average of $424,950, according to Realtor.com.
Rockford, which is about an hour from Chicago, is another Illinois city that has a generous college assistance program.
The Detroit Promise gives high school graduates from Detroit free college education (Pictured: Streets of east side Detroit)
The Chicago Star Scholarship gives residents the chance to attend Chicago colleges with no tuition costs (Pictured: the North Center neighborhood of Chicago)
The city gives students who attended all four years at a Rockford public high school and maintained a 3.0 GPA the chance to study all four years at Northern Illinois University free of charge.
It also has a median home list price of $168,675, which is far below the national average. And to live comfortably there, you only need a minimum income of $37,311, according to Realtor.com.
In Michigan, the small city of Kalamazoo offers graduates from its public school free tuition fees to any in-state public community college or university for four years.
The city is also relatively affordable, with median home list prices at $281,825 and the minimum income needed to live comfortably around $62,340 a year.
Kalamazoo in Michigan offers local graduates free tuition fees to any in-state college
San Francisco also has scholarship offers for its local high school graduates
Despite being one of the most expensive cities in the country, San Francisco also has scholarship offers for its local high school graduates.
The San Francisco Promise offers scholarships to graduates from the San Francisco Unified School District who go on to attend San Francisco State.
The scholarships can cover all four years of tuition so long as the recipient maintains a GPA of 2.5 or higher.
It comes as the average annual cost of attending college in the US - including tuition, fees, books, supplies, and room and board - clocks in at a huge $38,270 per student, according to the Education Data Initiative.
Over four years, that hits a total of $153,080, on average.
