Cities offering free college tuition lighten financial burdens

Climbing home prices and mortgage rates are significant expenses for many families, but some cities in the United States offer a unique financial relief: free college tuition. According to the Education Data Initiative, the average annual cost of attending college in the U.S., including tuition, fees, books, supplies, and room and board, is $38,270 per student. Over four years, this amounts to $153,080.

In response to these costs, six cities across America provide free tuition opportunities. One notable example is Wheelock, Vermont. This small town offers free tuition at Dartmouth College for its residents. "Dartmouth College used to own Wheelock," and since 1830 has offered free tuition to qualified applicants from the town. For the 2024–25 term, Dartmouth's tuition will be $66,123 annually.

Inspired by Wheelock's initiative, 32 states now offer some form of free college tuition. Of these states, 17 provide needs-based assistance while 15 have no salary requirements. Six U.S. cities have their own location-based tuition assistance programs.

Hannah Jones from Realtor.com® notes that Detroit and Rockford also offer affordable housing with typical home prices of $170,000 or less compared to other areas in the country.

Chicago provides free education through the Chicago Star Scholarship for city high school graduates with a GPA of 3.0 or higher who can attend City Colleges of Chicago without paying tuition.

Detroit's Promise program covers recent high school graduates' education costs at local community colleges and universities in Michigan.

Kalamazoo Public Schools graduates receive up to 100% coverage of their tuition and mandatory fees at any in-state public community college or university through the Kalamazoo Promise if they meet basic eligibility criteria.

Rockford offers scholarships through its Northern Illinois University Scholarship Program for students who attended all four years of high school in Rockford public schools with a maintained GPA of 3.0.

San Francisco grants scholarships to San Francisco Unified School District graduates attending San Francisco State University under certain conditions.

Finally, Wheelock residents accepted into Dartmouth College benefit from full four-year scholarships despite Dartmouth's low acceptance rate of just 5.4% for the Class of 2028.