OT: Anyone move family to Detroit for 100% free U-M tuition?

Submitted by chuck bass on

Detroit Promise gives families with a Detroit proper address four years of free in-state college tuition if their child attends a Detroit high school, public or private (e.g., UD-Jesuit), for four years. Has this lured any Metro Detroit middle / upper middle class into Detroit?

Worth about $60K at UM's (and Wayne State's, MSU's) current tuition rate or up to $160K at Albion's and UD-Mercy's private college rate. I assume four years of Detroit taxes, home & auto insurance eat into a decent chunk of the gift.

http://www.detroitchamber.com/econdev/education-and-talent/detroit-promise/high-school-students/

MGoBoard

Tuebor

November 14th, 2017 at 12:33 PM ^

Agreed in principle, but who knows if their kid is going to be accepted to UM before their freshman year of high school?  

 

Moving to Detroit and not getting into Cass Tech or Renaissance is a big risk and could potentially negatively impact your kid's chances of getting into UM given the poor state of the locally zoned schools in Detroit.  Not to mention the political backlash that a bunch of white suburbanites moving to Detroit and filling up the two best public schools would have while the black residents struggle in the poorly performing locally zoned schools.

Joined: 03/14/2011

MGoPoints: 17467

MGoBender

November 14th, 2017 at 8:33 PM ^

You're making all good points.  But, it still probably net positive to take advantage of.  If I qualify for 50% tuition at UDJ, I'm paying $7k a year... $28k.  I get into UM, I probably qualify for some need base, lets just say 50%, which I think would be high.So, at $24k a year with tuition, room and board, knock off 12k and you get a yearly $12k bill. $48k total.

You save $20k after 8 years.  Worth it?  Eh. Worth it if the HS education and college education was put to good use.  But saving $20k over 8 years isn't that big a deal. Simply investing that private school tuition for the 4-7 years makes up some of that "saved" 20k.  

So..... I've talked mysel into agreeing with you.  However, even if I only save $10k, I think it'd be worth it to get my kid through something like UDJ and UM.  They work hard with that education, and no student loans, they are set for life.

Joined: 03/26/2010

MGoPoints: 15128

chuck bass

November 14th, 2017 at 2:21 PM ^

"Not to mention the political backlash that a bunch of white suburbanites moving to Detroit and filling up the two best public schools would have while the black residents struggle in the poorly performing locally zoned schools."
 
Suburban folks aren't only white, but aside from racial fixation, isn't that exactly what the city wants to achieve with this incentive? Bring in a noticeable amount of suburban families to Detroit neighborhoods and schools. Maybe I'm naive, I'd think the Cass Tech High School community would love a 100 new white-Asian-Indian kids there (out of 2,400 students).

Joined: 07/09/2017

MGoPoints: 1416

FranklinHatchett

November 14th, 2017 at 10:54 AM ^

I'm sure there are some who would take this. Me persoanlly, heck no. The way I have fought through my life to get where I'm at, there's is no way I would go back to a big city, especially not Detroit. Too many benefits of being in suburbs and too many issues in cities, again, especially in Detroit.

Joined: 11/11/2017

MGoPoints: 1985

Qmatic

November 14th, 2017 at 11:11 AM ^

If your kids aren't in school yet, Kalamazoo is a great place to move to. There are some great homes and neighborhoods and the cost of living is surprisingly quite low. The Kalamazoo Public School system gets some slack from some of the neighborhoods, but there are some great schools in the district. King-Westwood elementry, maple street middle school, and either high school are very quality schools.

The Kalamazoo Promise does not seem to show any signs of stopping as the big "anonymous" donors will always have money. The Detroit Promise is good, but unless you are going to King, Cass, or Renaissance, I wouldn't be too keen on sending my child to DPS (And I work for DPS, mind you).

Joined: 01/09/2013

MGoPoints: 32723

Brodie

November 14th, 2017 at 6:49 PM ^

First of all, the Go Blue Guarantee also penalizes you for having assets in excess of $65k so they'd have to sell a lot of worldly posessions

Secondly, though, this is done so often by people with enough money and time banked to focus exclusively on gaming FAFSA. It's one of the (many) ways richer kids massive advantages in college admissions. 

Joined: 11/19/2008

MGoPoints: 10712

bluesalt

November 14th, 2017 at 11:58 AM ^

With a 16-month old, I just can’t rely on this program existing 18 years from now. If I had a child entering middle school, I’d seriously entertain it (kids are going to be miserable in middle school no matter what most likely, so what’s a little extra uprooting)?

Joined: 11/02/2011

MGoPoints: 8541

Mr. Owl

November 14th, 2017 at 12:52 PM ^

No, but I have considered going back to school full time, buying a cheap house on the far west side & a decent, but affordable car & just commuting to AA every day.

Joined: 01/15/2015

MGoPoints: 346

Zarniwoop

November 14th, 2017 at 1:57 PM ^

My wife is Australian and thinks any temperature under 70 is insanely cold.

She told me that if I ever try to move her back to Michigan, she's going home.

Joined: 09/10/2013

MGoPoints: 10498

Gucci Mane

November 14th, 2017 at 2:54 PM ^

Maybe one option is buy a dirt cheap home in the hood as your Detroit “address” but don’t live there. Commute from the suburbs everyday for your child’s school.

Joined: 02/10/2014

MGoPoints: -99957423

Bando Calrissian

November 14th, 2017 at 8:58 PM ^

I mean, growing up in the suburbs I had a friend whose dad was a higher-up firefighter for the DFD and they had a house on the east side so he could claim residency. But that's for a job (and as it is, residency requirements were banned by the state in 1999). Doing that so your kid gets cheaper college? Fraud 101.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 68117

93Grad

November 14th, 2017 at 4:59 PM ^

I'm not in a position to take advantage of it, but I think its a great thing for the City of Detroit.  It has been great to see the progress that has gone on in just the last 5 years.  

Joined: 07/26/2011

MGoPoints: 13594