This year marks the fifth anniversary of Michigan Reconnect, the state’s tuition-free community college program for adults. According to Governor Whitmer, the milestone highlights the program’s proven impact in helping adult learners return to college, gain skills for in-demand careers, and advance Michigan’s long-term workforce and education goals.
“Michigan Reconnect has fundamentally changed what’s possible for adult learners across our state,” said Brandy Johnson, president of the Michigan Community College Association (an MLC client). “Five years of Michigan Reconnect show that when education is affordable and accessible, Michiganders step forward. Community colleges see every day what happens when cost barriers are removed and support is built in credentials are earned and Michigan gains a stronger, more resilient workforce.”
Key Points:
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- Since it launched in 2021, the program has welcomed more than 200,000 applicants, with over 66,500 students enrolling in community and Tribal colleges.
- The impact includes nearly 35,000 applicants ages 21-24 who participated during the program’s temporary eligibility expansion, which concluded in December 2024.
- More than 14,000 learners have earned degrees or certificates.
- The program is part of the state’s efforts to achieve its Sixty by 30 goal, which aims to increase the percentage of working-age adults with a postsecondary credential to 60% by 2030.
Michigan Reconnect:
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- It provides a scholarship program that pays for an individual to attend an in-district community college tuition-free or offers a large tuition discount for an out-of-district community college.
- To be eligible, a person must be 25 or older, have lived in the state for at least one year, have a high school diploma or GED, and haven’t yet completed a college degree.
