A promising program in New Haven – one of the 100 1% solutions. Kudos to Yale!

Public high school students in New Haven now have another reason to go to college: free tuition.

City and school officials announced on Tuesday that a new program, called New Haven Promise, will offer to pay eligible students' way through any public college or university in Connecticut. The program will also pay up to $2,500 a year to those who attend a private college in the state.

The program — to cost $4.5 million a year, financed primarily by Yale University — is open to students who live in the city and have attended its public schools, including charter schools, since at least ninth grade, regardless of family income. Students must also have at least a 3.0 grade point average and a 90 percent attendance rate.

About 200 of the 1,000 graduates last year would have qualified, city officials said.

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November 9, 2010