Wayne State University to offer free tuition to Detroit high school graduates

[Lowell]

Now here's an incentive to stay in school...

"Wayne State University pledged Wednesday to provide free tuition to any Detroit high school graduate for costs not covered by other forms of financial aid.

"The gap scholarship would apply to any graduate of a public, charter or private high school or home-schooled Detroit resident enrolling at Wayne State starting for the fall 2020 semester, including those who attended high school outside of the city but have a Detroit mailing address.

"It's not only a game changer, it's a life changer," Wayne State University Provost Keith Whitfield said Wednesday."

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/educat...-s-detroit-2-0

[Johnnny5]

This is amazing news! Given the rather forgiving criteria for taking advantage of this funding, I imagine WSU will see an enormous increase in enrollment next Fall, and in the following years. I sure hope they can handle the influx of new students.

[Uncledave54]

Why just Detroit residents? I'm sure there are many deserving students of lower economic status living in the suburbs.

[Metro25]

^ Maybe because the university's home is Detroit? Why are they responsible to include the suburbs?

[DetBill]

Nice idea But not exactly inclusive of every deserving person, just because of your geographical origin, it is Wayne State, maybe Wayne County.

[jcole]

I think there will be a backlash because it's a state University. Will MSU be giving scholarships to kids who attend HS in East Lansing? I personally don't care and think it's a good idea but I'm not an out-state parent with kids who are seniors in HS

[sirrealone]

^ Maybe because the university's home is Detroit? Why are they responsible to include the suburbs?

For years, the suburbs have gotten a really bad rap around here for turning their backs on Detroit. Does inclusiveness work only one way?

[401don]

This may lead to a lot of kids enrolling in university because it's free. We all know many kids won't be properly prepared academically or may better be suited to community college, skilled trades and other vocational programs and instead could waste a couple of years figuring out it wasn't for them. They need to ensure there are mentors to help along the way and let kids know all of the opportunities for post-secondary available before they experience failure and don't look to alternatives.

[CR75]

Why just Detroit residents? I'm sure there are many deserving students of lower economic status living in the suburbs.

Details regarding funding for this Heart of Detroit Tuition Pledge initiative have not been released, as far as I know, but from the announcement it sounds like the funding will come from local Detroit-based institutions such as the Detroit Regional Chamber, which already funds WSU scholarships for Detroit students.

In addition, please note that this scholarship is need-blind, and as such it does not require 'lower economic status'. Deserving students of lower economic status living in the suburbs, or in the rest of Michigan, will still be able to attend WSU tuition-free through the Wayne ACCESS program.

[JBMcB]

^ Maybe because the university's home is Detroit? Why are they responsible to include the suburbs?

I think you could make an argument that, as it's a state funded school, it has a responsibility to the entire state.

[hybridy]

Wayne State already has a bad rap of being a diploma factory. A dramatic uptick of disadvantaged students is only going to decrease Wayne State's retention rates. There is nobility in what they are doing, but it won't fix systemic issues further down the pipeline.

Many of these schools see the writing on the wall - ie. insane tuition and dropping enrollment. I was a sucker and took on a ton of debt to attend UDM. Wouldn't do that again if I had a do over.

[Danny]

Free college education for Detroit residents only. There is got a be a catch.

[CR75]

I think you could make an argument that, as it's a state funded school, it has a responsibility to the entire state.

WSU does offer low tuition for all Michigan students, and free tuition for low-income Michigan students through Access [[see my previous post).

If, in addition, local institutions and foundations offer to provide additional last-dollar scholarships for a particular group of students [[in this case DPS graduates), I don't see any reason why WSU should decline it.

State support for higher education has been in steady decline for decades, and by now it only constitutes a significant minority of the total university budget, at WSU and elsewhere. It will be impossible for public universities in Michigan to survive if they start declining donations/partnerships from sources other than the state.

[K-slice]

What I REALLY don't understand in all this is why there isn't some kind of academic requirement for the students that will receive this... Someone who graduated HS with a 2.0 GPA is ill prepared to attend college and typically the costs would keep them away. However, now that they could go for free why not? They'll at least get a few semesters of hanging out with their friends, slacking off, and keep the parents off their back about getting a job.

I remember how I thought when I was that age, and opening the flood gates with absolutely no performance based prerequisites is a really bad idea.

All this goes without mentioning what will happen to Wayne State's reputation when this influx of students just in it for the freebie arrive on campus. Think there won't be resentment from the other students paying their own way? Think Wayne State won't become known as "the free college for poor Detroiters"?

[Lowell]

"As a Detroit resident you have had to put up with higher taxes, extortionate insurance rates, high crime, constantly declining and closing schools, teachers who use the schools for resume lines until then can split for greener and safer pastures, and on and on. For you education is a daily struggle and, now, at least, you get an incentive and pathway to higher education." I think that is the between the lines of this statement to students and their parents.

Why just Detroit residents? I'm sure there are many deserving students of lower economic status living in the suburbs.

I agree with you, but then I think higher education, including the trades, should be tuition-free, just as K-12 is for all Michigan and American students.

[Johnnny5]

What I REALLY don't understand in all this is why there isn't some kind of academic requirement for the students that will receive this... Someone who graduated HS with a 2.0 GPA is ill prepared to attend college and typically the costs would keep them away.

Prospective students would still need to be accepted to WSU in order to take advantage of the funding. If this program is wildly successful, I assume acceptance rates would fall and prevent a lot of those issues.

[Jimaz]

I often wonder how many Srinivasa Ramanujans have been and will be lost to today's peculiar tolerance for the predatory student lending industry.

Intelligence doesn't check credit ratings before sparking into a mind. Why do we?

Thank you, WSU.

[mkd]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/does-fr...rs-11561741553

The Kalamazoo Promise has done something similar, perhaps look to this for what to expect

[Johnnny5]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/does-fr...rs-11561741553

The Kalamazoo Promise has done something similar, perhaps look to this for what to expect

Similar, but 100% privately funded and acceptance is dependent on having spent a substantial amount of time living and attending schools in Kalamazoo. The problem I see with the WSU program is that it only requires Detroit residency and graduation from any high school in Michigan. Is there anything stopping someone from Traverse City or Bloomfield Hills from moving to Detroit the summer after their senior year and then claiming the funding? Not that I would be opposed to someone doing so, it's just without any income limitations it appears there's a angle from which this program could easily be manipulated.

[JonWylie]

Similar, but 100% privately funded and acceptance is dependent on having spent a substantial amount of time living and attending schools in Kalamazoo. The problem I see with the WSU program is that it only requires Detroit residency and graduation from any high school in Michigan. Is there anything stopping someone from Traverse City or Bloomfield Hills from moving to Detroit the summer after their senior year and then claiming the funding? Not that I would be opposed to someone doing so, it's just without any income limitations it appears there's a angle from which this program could easily be manipulated.

People moving to the city is the ultimate goal here so I think they kind of want and anticipate this

[EastsideAl]

Good to see Wayne harking back to its roots as the college of the City of Detroit. Back before it was a state university, both of my parents went there at very affordable rates [[my mother earned a scholarship for a couple of years too) as DPS graduates and the first people in their families to graduate from high school, let alone go to college. That opportunity changed their lives, and those of their children, as it did for thousands of working class and poor city kids back then. They both felt that WSU, in its push to become a major residential state university, had lost a lot of that value to the city and area it was built to serve.

As someone who has worked in higher education, and in academic support and tutoring, I can say that there is no such thing as an unalloyed success in higher education, particularly when dealing with kids from backgrounds of economic, social, and educational deficits. But there are also numerous successes, some of them quite stunning, when people are given a chance to learn, given a wider range of opportunities and the means to experience a wider world. Let's hope this program lasts and prospers, because it will change lives for the better.

[iheartthed]

What I REALLY don't understand in all this is why there isn't some kind of academic requirement for the students that will receive this... Someone who graduated HS with a 2.0 GPA is ill prepared to attend college and typically the costs would keep them away. However, now that they could go for free why not? They'll at least get a few semesters of hanging out with their friends, slacking off, and keep the parents off their back about getting a job.

I remember how I thought when I was that age, and opening the flood gates with absolutely no performance based prerequisites is a really bad idea.

All this goes without mentioning what will happen to Wayne State's reputation when this influx of students just in it for the freebie arrive on campus. Think there won't be resentment from the other students paying their own way? Think Wayne State won't become known as "the free college for poor Detroiters"?

I thought the reqs are minimum 3.0 GPA and 21 ACT score?

[drjeff]

I thought the reqs are minimum 3.0 GPA and 21 ACT score?

Basically students in this program have to exhaust every other resource available, such as Pell grants or other funding. WSU just covers the balance. Also, students have to gain admission just like everyone else. WSU raised their admission requirements several years ago because too many students were coming in totally unprepared for college level work. I suspect there will be more academic counselors hired to meet the potential increase in students.

Someone with a 2.0 is not going to be admitted.

[Ray1936]

I suspect there will be more academic counselors hired to meet the potential increase in students.

Uh.....and where is the money going to come from to hire these additional academic counselors? Oh, I know, the taxpayers, of course.

[JonWylie]

Uh.....and where is the money going to come from to hire these additional academic counselors? Oh, I know, the taxpayers, of course.

Yeah, fuck my tax dollars going towards education. I'd rather buy 1/100,000 of a fighter jet