Los Angeles to Offer Year of Free Community College

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti last week said the city would help finance a newly announced program to offer one year of free community college to graduates of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The announcement, which Garcetti made Thursday during his 2016 State of the City address, includes a $1.5 million fund-raising commitment from the city, the Los Angeles Times reported. The program's initial cost will be $3 million, and the K-12 district will pick up the other half of that amount. (Closing the price gap in California is fairly affordable, given the two-year system's low tuition prices.)

"Los Angeles will become the largest city in the nation to commit ourselves to a new goal: every hardworking student who graduates from LAUSD will receive one free year of community college," Garcetti said in the written version of his speech.