To further widen the field for selection it was decided to open a boarding school instead of paying for choristers to be lodged with local families. From 1876 it was decreed that choristerships should be open to all candidates "whether resident in Cambridge or elsewhere" with those resident outside the city lodged at the expense of the college, and a purpose-built King's College School was opened two years later. Also in 1876 it was decided that choral scholarships were to be awarded, with students replacing the permanently employed lay clerks. Existing contracts meant this was a slow process, with the last clerk leaving in 1928.