LANSING — Michigan high school graduates can now attend their local community college for free as part of the Michigan Guarantee. Governor Whitmer proposed this idea in her 2024 State of the State address in January and it now reality for high school graduates. 

A part of Michigan’s $19 billion school aid budget, this is estimated to save more than 18,000 students up to $4,800 a year. Every high school graduate in the state can attend their in-district community college cost-free for the first two years, earning an associate degree or skills certificate.  

“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,” said Governor Whitmer in a press release. “This education budget goes even further, delivering on our Michigan Guarantee to ensure every Michigan high school graduate can earn an associate degree or skills certificate tuition-free at their community college. 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.”

The program is eligible for students who attend the community college within their district. 

“Education is our greatest engine for economic and personal advancement,” said Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II. “Thanks to the Michigan Achievement Scholarship and Michigan Reconnect, countless Michiganders across our state have been able to chase their dreams of a good-paying job, a college education or skills training, and a better life. This education budget delivers on the Michigan Guarantee, making two years of community college or skills training an achievable goal for more Michigan families. We are grateful for the partnership that got this done and we will continue lowering barriers to health and wealth for Michiganders.”

“We’re excited by it,” said Jim Sawyer, president of Macomb Community College, in a Channel 7 Detroit report. “Obviously, anything to really make college more affordable for our students is something we’re going to be very supportive of.”

A similar program has been in place that many students throughout Michigan have benefited from. The Michigan Reconnect program provides community college tuition free for students over 25. The minimum age was temporarily lowered to 21 until November of this year. 

“Some high school graduates never see college as part of their future,” Sawyer said. “They may have grown up in families where no one went to college, so they don’t even think it’s attainable. So when they hear the term ‘free’, all of a sudden it opens up their eyes.”

“It would have saved me a lot of money,” Salvatore Cipriano, a student at Macomb Community College, told Channel 7 Detroit. “Money is a big barrier, especially for young people.”