Michigander high school graduates will be able to attend community colleges tuition-free this fall as part of the state’s recently approved fiscal year 2025 budget.
The initiative is part of Michigan’s efforts to advance education and advance the goal that 60 percent of working-age adults in Michigan have a skill certificate or college degree by 2030.
It was approved on a party line basis—Democrats have control of both chambers of the Michigan Legislature.
“I’m proud of our work to lower the cost of higher education and put college or skills training in reach for more working Michigan families,” Ms. Whitmer said in a statement. “Across our state more Michiganders are going back to school and getting the skills they need for high-skilled, better-paying jobs. We’ll keep working to lower barriers to economic prosperity and help more families ‘make it’ in Michigan.”
Critics of the governor’s budget expressed concern that it places too much emphasis on spending and expanding government programs as opposed to saving for rainy days, with state Republicans expressing concerns over increased spending after surpluses have run dry.
“By raiding the teacher pension fund, the Democrats are betraying retirees who have dedicated their lives to our kids. Putting former educators at risk in a time of heightened economic volatility is reckless and dangerous,” GOP state Rep. Dave Prestin in a joint statement after the vote.
“Superintendents, teachers, and staff called all day to let me know that this budget is bad for their schools and colleagues.”
Key allocations to K-12 education include $589 million to offset retirement costs, $133 million for student mental health and school safety, $200 million to provide universally-free breakfast and lunch to 1.4 million public school students, and $130 million for expanding free pre-K to every 4-year-old in Michigan.
Priorities in higher education include a 1.5 percent ongoing and a 1 percent one-time increase for university and community college operations; $30 million to expand the Michigan Achievement Scholarship, ensuring tuition-free community college for high school graduates; $52 million to continue Michigan Reconnect, offering tuition-free pathways for adult learners 21 and older; and $14.5 million for the North American Indian Tuition Waiver.
Expansion of the Michigan Achievement Scholarship with the Michigan Guarantee is also a part of the budget and guarantees every Michigan high school graduate the possibility to receive an associate degree or skilled certificate tuition-free at a community college.
Democrats say that this budget initiative will “save over 18,000 students up to $4,800 on tuition each year.”
Republicans characterized the new school funding priorities as a “dramatic change of policy” that they said would remove $670 million from going into the state’s retirement fund for teachers, adding the state has a history of failing to make payments to that fund, which has led to increasing debt.
“Under this budget, 2025 will be the first year we have not had a per-pupil funding increase in over a decade,” state Sen. Ed McBroom said in the statement. “With a total state budget over $81 billion, it seems inconceivable that we would be failing to increase per-pupil funding or make a debt payment into a fund that’s $30 billion in debt.”
