Act fast to get a free college tuition at Wayne State University

By Alan Madlane
For many Hamtramck students this is big news.
You can now get a free college degree at Wayne State University, which is where many Hamtramck students have gone in the past.
How?
The state of Michigan is offering a college degree for all persons whose family income is less than $70,000 and assets are less than $50,000 (as in, bank account/stock value, etc).
The program, dubbed the Wayne State Guarantee, is an outgrowth of Gov. Whitmer’s Michigan Achievement Scholarship Program, which she signed into law last year.
Here are the particulars of eligibility:
 Incoming first-year undergraduates who are Michigan residents admitted for fall 2023 as a first-time undergraduate in a degree program.
 Household income of $70,000 or less and assets of $50,000 or less as confirmed on the 2023-24 FAFSA form.
 Michigan residents eligible for the Pell Grant in 2023-24 are also eligible.
 Must be enrolled full time (12 or more credit hours per semester) each semester. Funding is for fall and winter semesters.
 WSU must receive your 2023-24 FAFSA by April 1, 2023, and be eligible to receive federal student aid.
 Must be admitted to WSU by April 1, 2023.
Note that last date – not much time to get admitted to a WSU program for this year.
The Wayne State Guarantee covers the full cost of tuition and standard fees (registration, matriculation and any student service fees). No mention of the cost of books in the bargain, which can be pricey, but hey – it’s an amazing deal either way.
The more-expansive Michigan Achievement Scholarships, by contrast, are renewable for up to three years at any Michigan community college, totaling up to $8,250, and up to five years at either a Michigan private college or university (to $20,000) or public university (to $27,500).
“Students in Michigan deserve the opportunity to receive quality, affordable higher education,” said Gov. Whitmer, in a press release.
“I’m proud to work with universities across the state to lower the cost of college for Michigan students and help them gain the skills to be prepared for the new and expanding businesses coming to the state.
“Last year,” Whitmer continued, “almost half of first-year students at Wayne State University had zero out-of-pocket expenses (and), with this initiative, the university is offering that opportunity to even more students.”
More grads in the state means a better educated work force that, one assumes, the leadership in the state would hope will mostly stay close to home to then become productive workers.
Posted March 24, 2023