Whitmer touts free community college. It’s not true for all Michigan kids

• Gov. Whitmer’s claim of tuition-free community college for ‘every’ Michigan high school graduate doesn’t match actual details
• Roughly 20% of Michigan students will still face tuition costs because they don’t live in a community college district
• Critics call Whitmer’s "tuition-free" claim misleading, with many students only receiving discounts

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and fellow Democrats are touting a new state-funded Michigan “guarantee” she says will grant “tuition-free community college for every high school graduate,” beginning this fall.

But there's a catch: Roughly one in five Michigan students won't get the full benefit — they'll only get a discount — because they don't live in a community college district, according to an analysis by Bridge Michigan.

“It’s not tuition-free for many,” said Sen. Tom Albert, R-Lowell, who voted against the state's new $23.4 billion education budget that included the plan. He called it “misleading rhetoric” to claim every student was eligible.

The community college program only grants free tuition to students who live and attend school in one of Michigan’s 28 community college districts, along with students who attend tribal colleges. 

Only 80% of the state’s K-12 students live in a community college district, while the other 20% do not, according to an estimate by the Michigan Community College Association.

Voters in many parts of northern and rural Michigan have opted not to levy local taxes to create or join community college districts.  Some suburban counties are also not part of districts, including Ottawa, much of Livingston and Lenawee, which have a combined 90,500 K-12 students.

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All told, roughly 270,000 of the state’s 1.4 million K-12 students would be ineligible for fully tuition-free community college because they live outside a local district, according to MCCA estimates.

If graduates from those areas go to community college, the new program will grant them a big discount — but not free tuition. They’d have to pay the difference between the college’s in-district and out-of-district tuition rates.

That could mean as little as $9 per credit hour at Wayne County Community College in Detroit to as much as $143 per credit hour at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City — or $4,290 a year for a full-time student taking 30 credits.

Cheaper, yes. But not free. 

“It’s not free for taxpayers, either,” Albert said of the community college aid, which is part of the Michigan Achievement Scholarship program that lawmakers approved $330 million for this year. 

It's not Whitmer's only recent exaggeration about the new budget: She's also touted "access to free pre-K for every 4-year-olds" even though the state has not yet provided enough funding to pay for all potential students.

Leaders promote program with a vague language

Lawmakers created the Michigan Achievement Scholarship in 2022, which provides funding for students to attend community college, private college or university or a public university in the state. 

This year, leaders removed the income requirements for community college students as part of a $30 million funding boost. 

Champions of the program say it will help give most Michigan students a path toward a tuition-free associate's degrees of skills certificate, thereby boosting the state workforce. 

State education leaders have been “pretty consistent in saying that it is tuition free at their local college, and that it is free in-district tuition,” said Brandy Johnson, president of the Michigan Community College Association and a former member of the Whitmer administration.

“Even out of district students get the ‘free’ in-district, which results in a significant discount,” she said. 

But Whitmer herself has failed to make that distinction in public events, touting the community college program as free “for every high school graduate.” 

Her claim was echoed by Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, at an event Wednesday promoting students completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). 

The program will “build up Michigan students like never before” by ensuring that every high school graduate can earn an associate degree or a skills certificate tuition-free,” Brinks said. 

Roughly 268,000 K-12 students in the state live outside of a community college district and many could still face tuition bills in the thousands of dollars annually after the discount. 

When asked about Whitmer’s recent comments, a spokesperson said the program gives “every high school graduate” free tuition “from their local community college,” a subtle nod to the fact that not every student lives in a district with a local community college. 

The spokesperson, Stacey LaRouche, did not respond to follow-up questions, including whether the governor is developing any plans to make community college tuition-free for students outside of a local district.

The administration estimates the program will save more than 18,000 students up to $4,800 a year. Last school year, 7,337 community college students received aid through the Michigan Achievement Scholarship. 

The governor probably keeps repeating the "free-for-all" message because it's simpler than explaining Michigan's community college districts and saying it’s going to be free for most but not all, said Kelly Sullivan, a project manager for EPIC-MRA, a Lansing-based polling firm.

"Why they didn't go with that, I don't know,” he said. “Free for all certainly sounds better."

An ‘opportunity’ for reform

Although the governor and Brinks overstate the scope of the new guarantee, Whitmer’s administration has consistently offered a more nuanced — and accurate — portrayal of the program. 

A state website outlining the program references in-district tuition and instructions to the schools on how to package financial aid offers explain considerations about in-district costs.

To qualify for the state tuition-free program, students must fill out the FAFSA, which officials have been urging students to complete.  It takes a combination of federal, state and local programs to zero out tuition bills. 

The complicated college financial aid system makes it “very difficult to send a simple message to students about how much it costs,” said Michigan Community College Association Vice President Erica Orians. 

The only way to actually know the cost of college is to apply to college and fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, she said. 

Sen. Darrin Camilleri, a Brownstown Township Democrat who helped craft the education budget, said he hopes students who don't live in a community college district can find "other opportunities" to avoid out-of-pocket costs, including federal aid. 

"There is also, I think, an opportunity for us to talk about community college reform," he said. "There are students who don’t currently live in community college districts, and so that is something that I do think needs to get discussed.”

Most states, including Michigan, charge out-of-state students more to attend state-funded colleges. But Michigan is in the minority of states that have community college districts and large swaths without one. 

Support for local community colleges

State Rep. Will Bruck, R-Erie, has a unique perspective: He was a trustee of Monroe Community College until he joined the Legislature, and his 30th House district straddles Monroe County and Lenawee County. 

His constituents in Monroe will qualify for free tuition, but not his constituents in Lenawee, who are not part of a community college district.

“It’s not free for those communities,” Bruck said.

Bruck voted against the education budget and said he thinks students do better if they share in the cost. “I’m not a fan of the free college thing,” he said. “I think there needs to be some sort of buy in.”

Albert, the Republican lawmaker from Lowell, said one of his biggest fears is how the program could affect the community colleges, which rely on local property tax support for a substantial chunk of their funding. 

He predicted voters may reject future tax millage requests by the community colleges, which levy between 1.13 mills and 4 mills, because they think the state is now picking up the tab.

“Who’s going to pay their local community college millage if the state is going to cover it?” Albert asked. “It’s going to be a problem for the community colleges going forward.”

Laura Oblinger, chair of the Northwestern Michigan College Board of Trustees, said she is not worried that the state program will lead voters to drop support of the Traverse City community college, because a community college provides a lot of economic benefits to a community. 

In neighboring Benzie County, advocates hoping to get lower tuition for their residents have put a proposal on the November ballot asking if voters want to join the Northwestern Michigan College district.

Currently, Benzie residents who attend the college pay $269 per contact hour compared to $126 per hour for Grand Traverse County residents. 

If residents were to approve annexation, Benzie property owners would pay an additional 2 mills — about $100 for every $100,000 in market value —  for the community college, and local high school graduates would then qualify for free in-district tuition. 

The community college board has also committed to taking $2 million of the expected revenue increase and reinvesting it into Benzie County for satellite facilities and job training programs. 

The promise of tuition-free community college is a big selling point, said Nick Nissley, president Northwestern Michigan College: 

“Now, in exchange for annexation, you’re not going from out-of-district to in-district, you’re going from out-of-district to free.”