Hamilton will pay college graduates to move there

The city of Hamilton, hoping to boost its number of college-educated residents, will soon begin offering cash incentives of up to $5,000 to young professionals who move there. The Talent Attraction Program Scholarship is an offer Alex Atkinson, a recent graduate of Missouri Western State University, said was too good to ignore. "I just got out of college, so you're making money for the first time and then, all of a sudden, 'Oh, wait, it's not free,'" she said. "'You have to pay all that money back that you spent on college.' When I heard about this opportunity, I said, 'Let's check it out.'" According to Bob Long of the Hamilton Community Foundation, the organization that created the scholarship, only about 15 percent of current Hamilton residents have a college education. He hopes the incentive will help to change that. "It's an opportunity to bring more people, especially young people with lots of energy, into the community," he said.