Philadelphia's biggest community college is making tuition free for its students, school officials announced.
Students who are graduates of the city's high schools and are eligible for Pell Grants will have their tuition waived through the school's free community college program, 50th Anniversary Scholars. This initiative will cover the gap between financial aid offered to students and the cost of tuition and fees.
"There are far too many students who, even with financial aid, are unable to meet the gap that exists between the financial aid they get and what final tuition would be," college president Donald "Guy" Generals is quoted as saying by The Inquirer.
The program will dispense roughly $450 to $500 annually per eligible student, the college estimates; tuition and fees for the school run about $5,500 a year.
According to The Inquirer, school officials estimate that the first year of the program will bring in 440 students, and by the third year the number will rise to 845.
"We do think it will attract more students, which increases enrollment," Generals said. "For us, that's a good thing."
Many of the students enrolled at the community college are eligible for a Pell Grant -- more than 70 percent of first-time, full-time students that went there last fall, the college notes.
Gregory Murphy, the school's vice president for institutional advancement, said the college plans to launch a major fund-raising effort to create a $10 million endowment in order to make the program sustainable over time.
