Michigan community colleges want to lure male students. Bass fishing anyone?

LANSING – Community colleges are marketing to and recruiting young male students through athletic programs as state officials call it “a real problem” that women in Michigan have higher levels of education than men.

Despite efforts in recent years to increase tuition-free access to higher education, women outnumber men at community colleges, universities and – most visibly – in the Michigan Reconnect Program, where enrollment is 2-1 women to men. 

Michigan Reconnect is the state’s largest effort to ensure eligible state residents without a college degree have the opportunity to earn a tuition-free associate degree or skills certificate.

It reports that 65% of participants are female.

“That is something the governor’s really concerned about,” said Brandy Johnson, the president of the Michigan Community College Association.

“Next month, she will be directing her cabinet to do better, to figure out more ways to engage men into taking advantage of these scholarships, but really taking advantage of higher education,” Johnson said. 

“Really, in every metric related to higher education, women outpace men, both in terms of their enrollment – like how many people go – but also their success, how many actually complete,” said Johnson.

“One way that we have greatly targeted men is through our athletic programs,” she said.

At Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac, scholarships are available to incoming full-time first-year students interested in joining either its bass fishing or esports teams.

President Joe Odenwald started the college’s first competitive bass fishing team. 

Katie Hannah, the vice president of student experience at Southwestern Michigan College, said, “The idea is to create these different club sports to draw that interest from students and then give those students another connection to the college community.”

“So, not only is it helping with recruiting and getting those students involved, but it also helps with retention because we drew them in and now they’re part of a team that keeps them on campus,” she said.

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Johnson said, “They attracted like 26 men to come compete on their bass fishing team.” highlighting the success of such targeted programs in increasing male enrollment.

“Were they super-excited about the college part? Not really. Do they need to do the college part to be eligible for the best fishing team and go on these trips? Yeah,” she said.

Hannah said, “In esports in particular, a lot of those students are our IT students or cybersecurity students. Then they have this second kind of connection while in the program. Participating in this sort of club sport activities really helps with their retention,” Hannah said.

She said, “Students have felt in the past that it’s been not financially an option for them, but at community colleges, especially Southwestern Michigan College, this potential financial barrier has been lifted for those male students that may not feel like it’s a good fit for them.”

Katie Witkowski, the director of government and external affairs at the Community College Association, said employers, particularly in advanced manufacturing and IT, are not hiring individuals with just a high school diploma.

“Hearing that message loud and clear, I think, is really important,” she said.

Johnson said, “A lot of these individuals are taking classes in skilled trades, becoming welders and machinists and things like that. And it’s been really highly successful.”

As of the last fall semester, Hannah said that the overall average of the bass fishing team’s GPA was higher than that of the general student population.

“Maybe knowing that some of the students may not have had a college in their future, we drew them into campus by having this. And then we’re helping them make sure that they’re earning that credential that they’re here for because they’re not just here to fish,” Hannah said.

Johnson said, “We know that wages are inextricably intertwined with your educational attainment level. Poor high school dropouts both earn the least and have the highest unemployment rates.”

This story was originally published by the Capital News Service.