In fall 2005, the Kalamazoo Promise became the first-of-its-kind “promise” scholarship program in the country, covering up to 100% of the cost of college tuition for eligible high school graduates in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Since then, dozens of public and privately funded tuition-free promise programs have been launched across the state, often tailored to benefit students from specific school systems. The introduction of such programs has helped to increase access to higher education and associated opportunities, which is often accompanied by a much-appreciated boost in enrollment for colleges.
This article is part of a monthly series provided by the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR), an affiliated council of the American Association of Community Colleges.
Investing in students
Movement on initiatives expanding such tuition-free programs throughout Michigan kicked off in earnest with the 2019 announcement of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Sixty by 30 initiative, whose goal is to increase the number of working-age adults with a skill certificate or college degree to 60% by 2030.
When Whitmer first announced the Sixty by 30 initiative, the statewide credential attainment rate was 45%, according to Michelle Richard, deputy director of higher education with the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential (MiLEAP). Since then, more than 10,000 people have earned a skill certificate or degree via the Frontliners or Reconnect programs, and attainment is up to 51.1%.
A notable early step in the program, which started during the Covid pandemic, was the Futures for Frontliners scholarship. This offered eligible state residents who worked in essential industries during the worst of the pandemic free in-district tuition to their local community college.
In February 2021, the state’s Michigan Reconnect program began providing eligible students ages 25 and older without a college degree free in-district tuition to attend their local community college or tribal college, a program that was temporarily expanded to 21- to 24-year-olds last fall. Reconnect enrollment has grown every year since launching in 2021, Richard said, and nearly 20,000 students benefitted from the program during the fall 2023 semester alone. State officials anticipate the positive trend continuing this fall.
The latest initiative, which began this fall, is the state’s Community College Guarantee (CCG) program, which covers tuition and mandatory fees for eligible credential-seeking students who graduated from a Michigan high school in 2023 or later. The CCG is an expansion of the Michigan Achievement Scholarship, which offers limited funding for eligible students to attend a postsecondary institution or eligible career training program in the state.
“If you want access to the best-paying jobs, you need education after high school,” Richard said. “For many people that means attending a college or university, and we’re proud to be among states that are investing in lowering costs and helping more students earn a college degree or skill certificate.”
A college-going culture
Community colleges across the state are seeing a significant number of students taking advantage of the state’s various tuition-free programs.
At Macomb Community College, the largest community college by enrollment in the state, nearly 11% of its nearly 16,000 students this fall are funding their education via a free-tuition program. This includes more than 1,500 students attending via state programs like Reconnect and the CCG, as well as 137 attending via the Macomb Tuition Advantage program, a last-dollar initiative the college started last fall to support eligible students with a household income below a certain income level.
Taking tuition and fees out of the equation for prospective students has been a game-changer at the institution, said Macomb President James O. Sawyer IV.
“For Macomb Community College, the importance of these programs isn’t about the impact on the college’s enrollment. It is about empowering a greater number of our residents to take that step into higher education that will transform their livelihoods, their lives and their futures,” Sawyer said. “While this should ultimately result in increased enrollment, the greatest value is fostering a college-going culture that is essential to both our residents’ personal prosperity and our community’s economic vitality.”
At Gogebic Community College, which is among Michigan’s smaller community colleges, 279 students are receiving Reconnect or CCG funds. That’s 54% of the 512 students enrolled this fall who are eligible for the programs. The college attributes an increased enrollment this fall specifically to the Community College Guarantee, said Kim Zeckovich, Goegebi’c director of admissions, marketing and community relations. She notes that area students who were planning on going away for school wound up staying closer to home because of the cost savings.
“These programs have definitely made a college education more affordable, especially during a time when minimum wage continues to increase and employers are paying high wages to attract employees,” Zeckovich said. “These programs make the decision to come back to school to finish a degree or stay close to home to begin their college education much easier.”
Changing the conversation
Michigan is far from the only state working on making college more affordable for students. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission in November announced that the Tennessee Promise program received more than 67,000 applicants from the Class of 2025 – the highest number of applicants since the program’s start in 2015. Tennessee also boasts a Reconnect program, which Michigan modeled many of its early design decisions on early in their development process.
State officials have said the Tennessee Promise program in particular “changed the conversation in many families from, ‘I wish I could go to college,’ to ‘Which college should I go to?’ because the program made it possible,” said Richard Locker, director of communications for the office of the chancellor with the Tennessee Board of Regents.
In Massachusetts, “free community college” programs like MassReconnect and MassEducate have “driven a substantial increase in enrollment across the state,” according to officials with the CONNECT consortium of six public higher education schools in the southeastern part of the state.
College Promise, a nonprofit dedicated to building public support for funding the first years of postsecondary education for students, tracks tuition-free “promise” programs nationwide on an interactive map on its website at mypromisetool.org. It lists 441 active programs across the U.S.
From access to success
The promise of free tuition is perhaps the most attractive hook for prospective students (and their local college administrators hoping for a boost in enrollment), but the return for colleges is about more than just enrollment, said Martha Parham, senior vice president of public relations at the American Association of Community Colleges. While tuition is a real barrier for many students, prospective students have to think about other costs, such as work, childcare and transportation.
Which means that tuition-free programs may not always lead to an increase in enrollment – and that’s OK, Parham said.
“The past 10 to 12 years have seen an increased focus on student attainment and success, not just access, and promise programs go hand in hand with that,” she said. “They’re another tool in an institution’s toolbox to help them ensure their students have the resources they need to complete their studies and find success.”
Sarah Stallings used the Futures for Frontliners program to attend Michigan’s Kellogg Community College (KCC), where she graduated with certificates and associate degrees in administrative assistant and business management this past spring. Today she’s a College Completion Corps Coach with AmeriCorps and the Michigan College Access Network based on KCC’s campus, where she helps students meet their goals of earning a degree or certificate like she did.
Stallings initially started college in the late 1990s but faced personal challenges that led to her dropping out for several years. The Futures for Frontliners program was crucial in her decision to go back to school.
“I found myself in low-paying jobs with poor working conditions, working every weekend and holiday,” she said. “Without the program, I would still be in a low-paying job with an inconvenient work schedule. It provided the support I needed to advance my education and improve my career prospects.”
