Osceola County is offering free college or technical education to all graduates in the class of 2022.
And on Monday county commissioners visited several high schools to make the announcement.
County Commission Chairman Brandon Arrington spoke to the seniors at Liberty High in Kissimmee.
"They were ecstatic and over the moon," he said. "Just seeing some of the viseral reactions that they had. And their principal kind of gave them a heads up and told them to start recording themselves 'cause this was a moment they'd want to remember. So they had a lot of good reactions with their phones."
Osceola Prosper, as the program is called, is paid for with $12.4 million in American Rescue Plan funds targeting workforce development. It will pay for tuition and fees at Valencia College or Osceola Technical College.
It's only for the class of 2022 so far, but includes all graduates of county public, private and charter schools, and home-schoolers, too.
It will pay for up to five years of college classes in an AA, AS or technical program.
