June 29, 2021
Southwestern Michigan College has boosted scholarships dramatically for next year to make higher education more affordable. SMC offered $880,000 in the 2021 budget, hiking that 62% to $1.4 million for 2022. SMC President Joe Odenwald tells WSJM News by eliminating some college costs made worse by the pandemic, SMC can improve degree attainment and, ultimately, economic prosperity in the area.
“Our overall increase in scholarships for this year over last year, it’s 62%, and in real dollars, it’s $553,610,” Odenwald said. “So it’s a pretty big deal. We’re pulling more money out of the foundation ,and frankly, we’re just budgeting more.”
A year of free tuition is being offered by Lake Michigan College. LMC President Trevor Kubatzke tells WSJM News the offer covers full tuition and fees up to 30
February 25, 2021
The new Michigan Reconnect program is leading to new enrollments at Lake Michigan College. Reconnect Michigan will pay the tuition for an associate degree or trade certificate for any Michigan high school graduate age 25 or older who does not have a degree. LMC Director of Admissions Jeremy Schaeffer tells WSJM News the summer numbers are up.
“Compared to this time last year, just for summer alone, we’re seeing over a 40% increase in our applications, and we know a lot of that has something to do with this program,” Schaeffer said.
Schaeffer says the fall numbers don’t yet appear to be affected, but he wouldn’t expect them to yet. The Michigan Reconnect students include those who have never gone to college, but many who were previously LMC students but didn’t graduate.
Lake Michigan College is preparing to take in new students with the state’s Michigan Reconnect scholarship program now launching. LMC Director of Admissions Jeremy Schaeffer tells WSJM News Michigan Reconnect will pay the tuition for anyone 25 or older who has graduated high school but does not have a college degree. The program will cover the tuition for a student to earn an associate degree or trade certificate at an in-district community college. Schaeffer says calls are coming in.
“The state announcement helped increase that engagement quite a bit,” Schaeffer said. “Over the last two or three days, we’ve been getting regular calls to the office and students excited, many of them coming back that maybe had started a program a while ago and now that there’s additional funding to make it easier for them to attend, they are making their plans to return to start with us either in the summer or the fall.
Lake Michigan College is preparing to take in new students with the state's Michigan Reconnect scholarship program now launching. LMC Director of Admissions