You might think this impractical; however, a program called the Kalamazoo Promise provides support for students throughout their youth and provides free college to Michigan-based colleges and universities upon graduation. It is America's most generous scholarship program.
The cost to replicate it in NYC: a $20 billion endowment, the proceeds of which would pay the yearly expenses.
And if the work of Nobel-Laureate James Heckman is accurate, the benefits would probably outstrip any other educational subsidy. He's found that dollars spent on very young children do more to propel students through their school careers than any other spending.
