FINALLY FRIDAY AT THE YNOT TIMES

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY

AT LAST

YOU ALL WILL NOT BELIVE THIS.

THIS FANTASTIC ISSUE WAS BROADCAST ON ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT ON SEPTEMBER 6, 2006.

THE CITY OF KALAMAZOO, MICHGAN IS DOING THIS:

By DEAN REYNOLDS

KALAMAZOO, Mich., Sept. 6, 2006 — Kalamazoo fell on hard times when the factories closed, but the former industrial city is suddenly booming, with houses selling at a remarkable pace, thanks to an offer from some anonymous philanthropists.

Last November donors announced the Kalamazoo Promise, a fund that would pay 65 percent to 100 percent of the tuition for every Kalamazoo public school graduate to enroll at a Michigan state college or university.

With tuition ranging from $2,000 a year for a community college to more than $9,000 a year at the University of Michigan, that benefit is worth as much as $36,000 per child for four years of schooling.

As Kalamazoo's children benefit, so does the city. As housing sales cool across the nation, they've risen in this region.