As it becomes more and more expensive to afford college tuition, many students are looking for a way out from underneath all the debt. Student loans can be a difficult beast to get away from, but San Francisco is giving students a promising opportunity to attend college there for free. This makes the prospect of buying real estate in San Francisco a great idea, even if just as a rental property, as anyone who has lived in San Fran for at least a year can qualify as a resident for the purposes of this free college program.
As of February 2017, San Francisco is offering free community college enrollment to any resident who has lived in California for one year. A sweet deal, especially when the City College of San Francisco has boasted over 65,000 enrollments in the past year.
Recently, the college has been struggling to boost enrollments, so by offering free tuition to new students, they hope to reinvigorate the school and start building a repertoire of promising students.
This influential new bill is also an attempt to close the gap between low-income families and higher-income homes. By giving less wealthy young adults a chance at higher education, they are hoping to bring an end to the circle of poverty in California. An honorable effort, and one that is going to start helping people by next fall.
Headed by San Francisco’s city supervisor, Jane Kim, the initiative is doing its best to offer fair education and equality to all of California, including the higher-income households. The tuition is free for anyone who wants it, making this plan the first of its kind in the United States. It’s a revolutionary change, one that is definitely going to make an impact.
Its reach isn’t going to stop at California real estate, more real states are bound to follow, and there will soon be an influx of educated young people entering the job market, which is never a bad thing.
The average cost of a private, non-profit, four-year university per school year was $31,231 in 2016; up sharply from $1,832 in 1971-1972 (in current dollars). At public, four-year schools, cost are about $9,139 as of 2016. In the 1971 school year, they added up to less than $500 in current dollars, but inflation has not been the sole cause of rising college prices, or the cost wouldn’t be nearly as high.
Millions of American students and their families still go into debt, however; annual college enrollment was at 19.5 million, as of 2013 and continues to rise despite anger at banks for cutthroat loan rates and the inability of graduates to find good jobs.
By investing in their citizens, San Francisco is doing everyone a favor. If this trend continues in other states, we can expect to see a wave of change. An educated populace is a happier populace, and with young people’s futures getting brighter, we can hope for great things in the future.
Talk to a San Francisco real estate agent about the potential real estate properties that could be purchased for the purposes of qualifying residents for this free college tuition program in San Francisco.
