Legislative Priorities
Invest in infrastructure, technology, equipment, maintenance, safety & housing (ITEMS)
- Establish ongoing funding to help community colleges improve infrastructure, upgrade technology and equipment, ensure safe and well-maintained facilities, enhance safety, and offer affordable student housing. These investments are foundational to Michigan community colleges’ ability to provide accessible, affordable, and high-quality education and training.
Adopt a uniform capital outlay match for community colleges and universities
- Establish a 25% matching requirement in state statute for community colleges and universities seeking funding for capital outlay projects. This matching requirement will bring parity to postsecondary projects and allow colleges to direct more resources toward immediate infrastructure needs and student support efforts.
Sustain the Community College Guarantee
- The Community College Guarantee offers recent high school graduates a transformative, tuition-free or deeply discounted path to a certificate or degree, along with $1,000 in financial support to eligible students to help meet basic needs and stay on track. Continued funding for this program will build on its success, improving student outcomes and growing Michigan's skilled workforce.
Contribute to community college operations to drive Michigan's economic growth
- Increasing operations funding for community colleges above inflation is essential to Michigan’s economic growth. This funding supports student services, staff retention and recruitment, safe facilities, and classroom resources to empower students to build skills for the modern workforce.
Support the continuation and adoption of student success efforts
- Provide dedicated funding to all community colleges to strengthen student success and completion by addressing essential needs—such as childcare, mental health services, food assistance, and other comprehensive support services. These resources would provide temporary support to students while they are enrolled in training or educational programs, helping them reach their education and employment goal.
Strengthen dual enrollment opportunities and improve access
- Requiring schools to use their foundation allowance to cover dual enrollment tuition limits widespread adoption of dual enrollment as a means of increasing college access and early career training. Consider establishing a separate funding mechanism for dual enrollment, along with policy recommendations from the MCCA, to improve participation and access.
Extend Michigan Reconnect to adults ages 21 to 24
- Permanently lower the eligibility age for Michigan Reconnect to 21 and older. Expanding access to this program would open opportunities for more adults to pursue tuition-free pathways to a certificate or degree, strengthen their skills, and advance their careers. This change would support economic mobility by addressing the needs of working-age adults looking to re-enter higher education, complete unfinished credentials, or gain new skills to meet evolving workforce demands.