<p>KALAMAZOO, Mich. - In one of the biggest and boldest such programs in the nation, an anonymous group of benefactors is offering college scholarships for at least the next 13 years to nearly all of Kalamazoos high school graduates. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10006353/[/url]”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10006353/</a></p>
<p>OK, let’s all move there, years ago! Sure wish it would spread to other places. Oh well, glad that the folks there won’t lie awake nights worrying about how to pay for college costs. They do have to stay in Michigarn, from what I read, but it’s a great thing!</p>
<p>I read about that…I wish that was offered in Holland, MI too</p>
<p>The Detroit region is what needs the free education the most, especially children of Detroit who are the most disadvantaged.</p>
<p>jeezus I thought the Seattle schools had bad financial managers</p>
<p>The financially ailing Detroit Public Schools will ask voters in November to approve a property tax after discovering that it has illegally collected the money for the past three years.
The move comes after the school district discovered on July 28 that it collected a reported $259 million after an 18-mill tax on secondary homes and businesses expired in June 2002.
The district, which struggled with a more than $200 million funding shortage this year, may have to refund the money to taxpayers, according to Fitch Ratings, a credit rating agency.</p>
<p>that is really a shame-</p>
<p>I grew up in Detroit and went to college in Kalamazoo so I’ve got feet in both these communities. I’ve lived in half a dozen cities in the northeast, south, and southwest, but have always felt the town of Kalamazoo was a special place. Now I’m sure of it. </p>
<p>What an enormous gift! My guess is that the city will be exploding with new businesses in the next few years. There are a lot of employees who would flock in if a company told them their kids would automatically have 65-100 % of their tuition paid. I know it would make a difference for me.</p>
<p>Two of the big winners in this story could be U of M and little Kalamazoo College. Some of the most gifted kids who might normally head out of state or even to the Ivies may think twice with this kind of offer. Kalamazoo is one of those midwestern schools that should be better known and higher ranked than it is. It has churned out an enormous number of kids who went on to get the PhD in either the sciences or humanities–more per capita than many of the Ivies. </p>
<p>Detroit is another story… There are some successes but too many defeats.</p>
<p>What a great event!!! We need more ‘outside-of-the-box’ thinking of this sort to restore older towns and cities in distress. Hopefully friends of places like Buffalo and Troy NY, as well as Camden NJ are listening.</p>
<p>Holy mackerel!</p>
<p>I agree with you about K-zoo college, Cami. I think a lot of the privates in Michigan may benefit from this.</p>
<p>I told my boss I’m moving to Kalamazoo. LOL. It’s a 90 minute commute, but as long as gas prices don’t go up too much we’ll come out ahead…</p>
<p>Kalamzoo College is one of those schools that is a “best kept secret”. I see very few kids applying from this board, and I think they have overlooked a real gem. I went to K and ended up earning a doctorate from an Ivy. That would never have happened without the real humanity and scholarship evinced by the school!</p>
<p>One of my colleagues at work is a K-zoo grad. What a fantastic school! What a great opportunity to keep the smart homies home!!!</p>
<p>As I read that news story more closely, I saw that it is for the public colleges… so I’m not sure it would help Kalamazoo College after all. That’s too bad.</p>
<p>But it’s awfully good news for the town!</p>