High school graduates in 10 low-income areas of Michigan are in line to get at least two years of free college tuition, the state announced Saturday.
The city of Detroit and the Pontiac and Hazel Park school districts are among the Promise Zones announced as part of an effort to ensure low-income students attend college.
"Communities need this powerful new tool to take charge of their economic futures," said Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who signed the law creating the zones in January.
In each zone, an authority would come up with a plan to raise private funds that would cover at least two years of community college for all of the zone's high school graduates. The Michigan Treasury Department must approve the plans.
Each local authority must be able to fund the first two years of its program's grants solely with private dollars.
After two years, they could get a portion of the state's 6-mill education property tax collected in the zone to help fund the tuition program. But that money comes only if the tax collections in a zone increase.
It's up to each zone to determine how they would continue -- or whether they would -- without tax money. But the Promise Zone designation was given only to 10 low-income areas on a first-come, first-served basis, so the communities had to apply to have a shot at tax money later.
Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, who sponsored the bill to create the zones, said he hopes it will spur new development in those communities and boost property values. He expects the promise of free tuition will lift graduation rates.
Hazel Park Schools might be able to get its Promise grants going soon because the district already has foundations that raise money for scholarships, assistant principal Noreen Christina said. Hazel Park High graduates about 200 students a year, about 50% to 60% of whom go off to college, she said.
"It's not that they don't intend to go to college. It's just that life and finances get in the way," she said.
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