145. The city where high school grads go to college for free
WHEN DOREISHA REED WAS in elementary school, she thought college was free for everyone. Her teachers spoke about it like it was an extension of high school, as if she had no other option but to attend. And when the teachers talked, they kept bringing up “the Promise.”
“PROMISE” COLLEGE GRADS FROM THE CLASS OF 2016
PATTY RODRIGUEZ
“Until middle school, I thought everybody had it,” says Reed, now 18 and a recent Kalamazoo Central High School graduate headed to Western Michigan University. “But that’s when it hit me. Other kids have to pay for college.”
“PROMISE” COLLEGE GRADS FROM THE CLASS OF 2016
ELEXIS BUCHANAN
Kalamazoo, Mich., is different not just because its name sounds funny. The city
