‘Free college’ programs are surging

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Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan announced proudly in August that 100,000 people had applied for her state’s free college program, Michigan Reconnect.

The program, which covers community college tuition for Michigan residents aged 25 or older to get them to go back to school, was “a gamechanger”, Whitmer said, “not only for the people enrolled in the program, but also for their families, small businesses and the state”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/27/free-college-programs-michigan-new-mexico
 
New Mexico in the fall launched its Opportunity Scholarship, one of the most generous such programs in the country. It covers full tuition at two- and four-year public colleges and universities, before – instead of after – federal aid kicks in. (The state uses the term “middle-dollar” to describe its scholarship because other state money is applied first.)

The Opportunity Scholarship will cost more than $100m to operate this year, said Stephanie Rodriguez, secretary of the New Mexico department of higher education, and the governor’s office asked for more than $157m to cover it next year. Part of that increase is because it’s been so popular, helping boost enrollment at New Mexico public universities and colleges by 4% in the last year. Some 34,000 students received the scholarship this fall.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/27/free-college-programs-michigan-new-mexico
 
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