July 13, 2009

In an Unusual Partnership, a College Swaps Tuition for a New Building

In an Unusual Partnership, a College Swaps Tuition for a New Building 1

Photograph by Michael I. Kienitz

John B. Sanregret (left), principal of Hancock Central High School, in Michigan, and Philip R. Johnson, president of nearby Finlandia U., forged the deal that gave the university this building and provided free college tuition for local high-school students.

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close In an Unusual Partnership, a College Swaps Tuition for a New Building 1

Photograph by Michael I. Kienitz

John B. Sanregret (left), principal of Hancock Central High School, in Michigan, and Philip R. Johnson, president of nearby Finlandia U., forged the deal that gave the university this building and provided free college tuition for local high-school students.

By Karin Fischer

Finlandia University, a small Lutheran college at the tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, aspires to grow. Public schools in the community hope to send more graduates on to college. And city officials want to improve the local economy —stagnant since nearby copper mines began closing decades ago —by building up and retaining a better-educated work force.

They hope that an unusual public-private partnership can help them all. The public-school system in Hancock,

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