In January, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she wanted to make community college free for all. With the passage of the state’s 2025 budget, that pledge is now a reality for Michigan high school graduates.
The Democrat-controlled state legislature passed an $82.5 billion state budget, which includes $19 billion toward education.
The higher education investments also include expansions in scholarships and existing programs such as the Michigan Achievement Scholarship and Michigan Reconnect, which allows older Michiganders to return to college and for which the eligibility age has been reduced from 25 to 21.
The area that will directly impact high school graduates is an increase in college state funding that aims to advance Whitmer’s "60 by 30 goal" of 60% of working adults earning a degree or skills certificate by 2030.
In a recent release, Whitmer said the new budget includes the Michigan Guarantee, which will save more than 18,000 students up to $4,820 on their tuition each year when pursuing an associate degree or skills certificate at a community college.
Alpena Community College representatives said they are still working out the logistics of the new budget. In an email, Financial Aid Director Amanda Belusar said state programs can change frequently, especially if they are new.
“The state needs time to provide guidance to colleges on how to award the program or if it falls under a current program,” she wrote in the email.
North Central Michigan College is a community college headquartered in Petoskey but has additional learning centers in Gaylord and Cheboygan. The college sees most students come through on a transfer pathway, but they also receive students pursuing nursing, child education and skill certificates, or “fast-track career” programs.
Renee DeYoung is the vice president of student affairs for the college. She said many students who attend North Central are Pell Grant eligible, and about 75% of the school’s student population who eligible for federal financial aid receive it.
North Central President David Finley said he’s optimistic about the Michigan Guarantee and excited to market it to incoming students.
“We learned officially just yesterday that that would be available for this coming fall,” he said. “We’ve just begun having the conversations on how we best promote this new opportunity … We’re extremely excited about recent high school graduates being able to access this.”
Finley said before the budget was passed, many students could attend North Central tuition-free due to federal and in-state programs, but he hopes to see those numbers go up.
He expects to see a 1% to 2% increase in enrollment, which would be between 25 and 50 more students. He said he hopes to be proven wrong and see even more students enroll.
However, the program may not benefit everyone equally.
DeYoung said students’ credits are calculated differently based on where they live.
Students living in-district, or in Emmet County, pay $148 per contact hour. But students living outside the district in counties like Charlevoix, Cheboygan and Otsego have to pay $250 per contact hour.
“The student has to make the difference up,” she said. “We look internally at the scholarships that the students can apply for here to see if we can help in making that difference up so the student doesn’t have to come up with that additional cost.”
While Finley and DeYoung said they are still in process of figuring out the logistics of the Michigan Guarantee and what it will cover, they said they are optimistic for the future of students at North Central.
