Over the years, thousands of Michigan students enrolled in community college but dropped out before their first credit-earning class. Remedial courses, meant as a way to ensure borderline students were ready for college coursework, discouraged some students from continuing.

There are thousands of young people in my community of Ingham and Eaton counties who graduated from high school during COVID and melted away from their college-intentions.

The Four County Community Foundation was among five Michigan College Access Network (MCAN) Innovative Program Grant winners announced last week. Each winner received a $10,000 grant.

MCAN has been awarded a $55,000 grant from the Native American Heritage Fund (NAHF) to improve completion rates at Michigan’s three tribal colleges.

Lefiest Galimore, a longtime Black resident and former social worker, is concerned about the trends and wants to find a way for Black people to continue to have a place in and thrive in Ann Arbor.

The Lansing Promise began funding college for Lansing high school graduates in 2012. Since then, 1,622 students have received Lansing Promise scholarships.

Nine community colleges in the state – including Muskegon Community College and Southwestern Michigan Community College – will receive grants to improve student success rates among adult students.

There are several statewide programs in place to facilitate Michigan getting to Sixty by 30. They have at their core, community colleges.

Whitmore Lake is one of 19 high schools across Michigan that sent more than 70 percent of its graduates to college last year despite having a student population that was more than 40 percent economically disadvantaged.

Jeffrey Mosher welcomes back Ryan Fewins-Bliss, MCAN executive director of MCAN, to review this year's College Access Advocacy Day.