Rio Hondo College to offer free tuition for some local first-year students

WHITTIER, Calif. (KABC) -- Rio Hondo College will soon be offering free tuition to some first-year students from surrounding communities.

Rio Hondo College Promise offers free first-year tuition, as well as priority registration to 2017 graduates from three public school districts: Whittier Union, El Monte Union and El Rancho Unified, as well as private schools in the area.

The program starts this fall at the Whittier-based community college.

Information about how it works was presented to 200 high-school students from those districts Thursday.

"It is a good feeling, a good sense that education is always going to be the key to opportunity," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis. "Now it will be real for these families that make up the communities that surround this area."

Students in the program will also get academic counseling and assistance with moving on to four-year colleges.