Michigan college enrollment rate slips, despite $1B in state scholarships

New state data shows high school graduates enrolling in college dropped in 2025
Enrollment numbers increased slightly in recent years
Some say scholarships to reduce college tuition are not enough to combat a larger issue

Michigan’s rate of sending high school graduates to college dropped in 2025, despite millions of dollars in state-funded scholarships.

Only 54.6% of the Class of 2025 enrolled in college within six months, according to preliminary state data released this month.

That’s down from 56.8% the previous year, which had shown a slight uptick. Ten years ago, 64.7% of high school graduates enrolled.

The declines come as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has set a goal of having 60% of the state with a degree or credential by 2030. It was 51.6% in 2024, ranking the state 39th in the nation.

Experts were surprised by the 2025 enrollment drop, and split on whether the state’s financial aid investment is working.

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The Michigan Achievement Scholarship was hailed as a “game changer” for covering tuition costs when lawmakers signed bipartisan legislation four years ago. Seeded with $250 million, investment has grown to nearly $1.2 billion, helping tens of thousands of students in public, private four-year and two-year colleges and occupational training.

Michigan spent $382 million on the scholarships alone from 2023 to 2025, state records show.

It “doesn’t seem to be working,” said Lou Glazer, president of Michigan Future, Inc., a nonprofit thinktank that promotes a “knowledge-driven economy.”

“The assumption was that if you lowered the (tuition) price you would increase enrollment.”

Whitmer and others have banked on increasing enrollment as part of an economic development strategy. Studies show college graduates make more than $1 million over a lifetime than those with only high school diplomas; states with more educated residents tend to have stronger economies, quality of life and health outcomes.

“My sense is it’s not working because of this constant messaging that you don’t need college,” Glazer said.

More vexing, he said, is that enrollment is dropping even as universities are also offering free tuition programs such as Michigan State’s Spartan Tuition Advantage and Grand Valley State’s Grand Valley Pledge.

The average cost of tuition at state public universities is $17,000 annually, before financial aid.

Daniel Hurley, CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities, said he suspects that high school graduates are foregoing college and entering the job market immediately upon graduation.

“College affordability has increased substantially in recent years and yet you see the participation rate has gone down,” he said.

But he contends the drop would be” much, much worse and more profound” without the scholarships.

Ryan Fewins-Bliss, executive director of the Michigan College Access Network, said the numbers are “concerning” but added there work underway across the state with funding and programs to get students into post secondary education.

“The fact that the number has dipped when more resources have been poured is a stunner, especially since it had been on the uptick for a couple of years,” Fewin- Bliss said. “More work needs to be done.”

The enrollment drop extends to districts statewide, including wealthy ones, said Glazer. In Bloomfield Hills, for instance, 83% of the 2025 graduates of attended a two- or four-year school, down from 88.5% in 2019.

He and others blame a popular narrative that high debt makes college a risky proposition. Some recent research adds nuance to conventional wisdom about the value of college: A Texas report released this month looking into earnings, for instance, found the gap narrows for graduates of certain programs like liberal arts — but college grads still make more overall.

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