Sentinel Staff
GRAND RAPIDS Just six weeks after the program’s launch, more than 800 people have been approved to attend Grand Rapids Community through the Michigan Reconnect program.
The program provides scholarships to attend community college or trade schools for Michiganders ages 25 and older who have a high school diploma, but have not completed a college degree.
So far there have been 47,000 applicants statewide. That includes 752 residents in Ottawa County, 252 in Allegan County and more than 2,500 Kent County.
GRCC President Bill Pink joined state and West Michigan legislative, education and economic development leaders participating in a virtual event Monday to share how residents ages 25 and older without a degree can take advantage of the program.
HOLLAND TWP. The Grand Rapids Community College Lakeshore Campus in Holland remains on track to host its first class later this year.
Construction of the consolidated campus, located in the former J.C. Penney location at 12335 James St. in the Shops at Westshore, continues and is expected to meet initial projections of a fall 2021 opening.
“We are all on track. We expect to be in here for fall 2021,” GRCC President Bill Pink said Tuesday, Feb. 16. “This facility, I think, will be one of the best higher ed institutional facilities in West Michigan when this is done.
“It truly will have a community college feel to it. Under one roof we’ll have classes that are liberal arts, English, math. Next to that class, biology and chemistry labs. Under that same roof, skilled trades with machining, welding, all those things.”