Alma College Sweetens The Pot For Students

ALMA (WWJ/AP) Alma College is making an offer they hope you can't refuse -- They call it the "Alma Commitment" and it involves a $2,500 stipend for students to join an internship or perform a summer research project.

But that's not all, the school will also pay for a fifth year of school if a student doesn't graduate within four years if they meet the requirements.

It's expensive to attend Alma, a private college about 45 minutes outside Lansing, with tuition at more than $30,000 a year, or three times the average at a Michigan public university.

Alma has more than 1,400 students and the new program will begin this fall. The stipend to expand horizons with an internship or summer research project will likely be handed out to students in their junior year, school officials said.

About 80 percent of Alma students graduate in four years, officials said. College cost was a hot topic nationally during the most recent presidential election, with President Barack Obama pledging to take on the challenge of driving down student debt.

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