News
MCAN shares the latest data, research, and resources from the field so that educators, leaders, and partners are empowered with knowledge that is relevant to their work.
News
Press Releases
High School Innovation
All Areas of Work
MCAN celebrates wins for students in legislative budget bills
April 22, 2026
As Michigan lawmakers unveil competing state budget bills, early plans signal meaningful investments in students and families, while also raising important questions about long-term funding stability for higher education and college access.
Community Mobilization
MCAN awards over $26,000 in grants to support innovative college access and success projects
April 13, 2026
Michigan College Access Network is proud to announce three Innovative Program Grants to support promising college access and success projects across the state. Montcalm Community College and Alternatives for Girls each received $10,000, and Michigan Technological University received $6,333.
Blogs
All Areas of Work
15 Years Forward: When Policy Meets Purpose | Michele Strasz
April 23, 2026
Michele Strasz has attended every single MCAN advocacy event. All nine of them. That’s dedication. As director of the Capital Area College Access Network (CapCAN) and a leader at United Way South Central Michigan, Michele has spent her career at the intersection of community impact and public policy. She is, in every sense, the kind of partner that makes this work possible and the kind of advocate that makes it matter. As we reflect on 15 years of postsecondary progress through the lens of policy, Michele's story is exactly the one we want to tell.
All Areas of Work
Q&A with Ryan Fewins-Bliss: 15 Years of Policy & Progress
April 15, 2026
As MCAN celebrates its 15th anniversary, we sat down with Ryan to talk about policy — the wins, the work, and what it takes to move a state.
Higher Education Innovation
Rewriting the Story of College Access: How Equitable Opportunities Change Trajectories
March 4, 2026
For students who have long faced systemic barriers, these ripple effects don’t happen by chance. They happen when systems are intentionally redesigned to expand opportunity — not restrict it.
In the News
High School Innovation
U.S. citizen students face an agonizing choice: Affording college or protecting parents from deportation
May 1, 2026
The Hechinger Report
“I can’t look them in the eye anymore and say federal law prohibits them using your data in other ways,” Ryan Fewins-Bliss, executive director of Michigan College Access Network, said of college applicants with undocumented family members. “It also could be the pathway to getting your family detained.”
Adult Student Attainment
Build pathways home: Why Michigan’s college-in-prison expansion matters now
April 22, 2026
Michigan Advance
Michigan can show the country what it looks like to treat higher education in prison as a public good, one that strengthens families, communities, and the workforce. We know that not as a slogan, but as people who have had to build our lives on the other side of incarceration. We are both justice impacted, and we’ve both seen what happens when someone is finally offered a real opportunity to learn.
Community Mobilization
Three Michigan programs receive Michigan College Access Network grants
April 20, 2026
Soo Leader
Michigan College Access Network is proud to announce three Innovative Program Grants to support promising college access and success projects across the state. Montcalm Community College and Alternatives for Girls each received $10,000, and Michigan Technological University received $6,333.