To Attract Residents, Killington Board Mulls Free Tuition Offer

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A select board member in Killington has proposed giving free tuition to families who relocate to the resort community and send their children to college in the town.

Longtime businessman and Killington resident Bernie Rome made his proposal during a brainstorming session this month about how the Select Board can secure the town’s financial future.

"It would be good for the elementary school because of the way education funding works in the state the more students they have the stronger the funding," Rome argues. "And it would be good for the town, of course, because it would be more taxation."

With Green Mountain College in town and increasing student debt, Rome says the ingredients for Killington offering free tuition are already in place. He points to the 3,000 second homeowners in Killington.

 

"They might elect to move here so their children could get a college education here," Rome says. "The cost of a college education is escalating and the numbers are extraordinary. And ten years from now they’re going to be higher."

Killington’s Town Manager says the town isn’t actively pursuing the free tuition proposal, but other select board members are encouraging Rome to develop his idea and explore how the town would pay for it.

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