By Daniel Hamon
In 2005, a small group of donors started The Kalamazoo Promise, a non-profit corporation that has the goal of providing "each Kalamazoo Public School graduate with the opportunity to attend post-secondary education with up to a 100% tuition scholarship."
The eligibility and requirements seem simple enough: students in the Kalamazoo Public Schools who have graduated and attended four years or more and who go to any public university or community college in the State of Michigan. Once enrolled in college, beneficiaries need to maintain a 2.0 GPA, a minimum of 12 credit hours and make continuing progress toward their degrees.
At a time when a college education is becoming the minimum requirement for entry into the job market, the anonymous donors of The Kalamazoo Promise will surely make a major impact on the lives and standards of living of many Kalamazoo, MI high-school graduates.
