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College leaders urge lawmakers to protect Achievement Scholarship and restore tuition grant for adult, incarcerated learners
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Summary
Presidents of Baker, Albion and Hope College told a House appropriations subcommittee that Michigan’s Achievement Scholarship has helped many students but that the sunset of the Michigan Tuition Grant and restrictive eligibility rules leave adult, transfer, part‑time and incarcerated students without needed aid; advocates asked lawmakers to amend timing limits and preserve MDOC higher‑education funding.
Presidents and students from Michigan’s independent colleges pressed the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education and Community Colleges to preserve and expand state financial aid so it reaches adult, transfer, part‑time and incarcerated learners.
Jackie Spicer, president of Baker College, told the panel the college serves six campuses across Michigan and — citing a third‑party analysis — “collectively, we contribute more than 3,000,000,000 annually to Michigan’s economy and support 33,000 jobs.” Spicer said more than 400 Baker students benefited from the Michigan Achievement Scholarship in the 2025–26 academic year, receiving nearly $2,000,000 in aid; she warned that the sunset of the Michigan Tuition Grant has created a gap for adult and part‑time learners who no longer qualify for state support. “Unlike its predecessor, the achievement scholarship limits eligibility to students enrolling within 15 months of high school graduation and attending full time,” Spicer said, and she urged “a targeted reinstatement or program expansion that broadens access to include adults, transfer, and part‑time learners.”
Student testimony put a face on that gap. Presedo Brito, a third‑year elementary‑education major at Baker, said the Michigan Tuition Grant “has played a pivotal role in helping me afford and attend college” and that without such aid “my college experience would have been much more difficult and possibly out of reach.”
Wayne Webster, president of Albion College, echoed the request for continued scholarship funding and highlighted Albion’s Build Albion Fellows and experiential‑learning programs that link students to community employers. Alex Codis, an Albion sophomore and student‑senator, said hands‑on internships and civic engagement gave him a “leg up in the job market.”
Hope College president Matt Scogin described institutional experiments intended to improve affordability and predictability. He said Hope’s ‘‘anchored tuition pledge’’ guarantees incoming students the same tuition rate throughout their time on campus, and the Hope Forward pilot allows students to start without paying tuition up front and then give back to the college after graduation. Scogin argued these approaches can increase access without producing large upfront debt burdens and asked the committee to “protect and continue the Michigan Achievement Scholarship.”
Advocates for college programs inside prisons urged lawmakers to adjust statutory timing rules so incarcerated learners can access state aid. Richard Nelson, a graduate of the Hope Western Prison Education Program, described earning a bachelor’s degree inside Muskegon Correctional Facility and said the program reduced violence and improved reentry outcomes. Richard Ray, chair of the steering committee for the Michigan Consortium for Higher Education in Prison, asked the committee to amend the 15‑month enrollment timing in the Achievement Scholarship so formerly incarcerated and in‑custody students can qualify, to support Michigan Reconnect Plus transfer pathways, and to maintain the Michigan Department of Corrections higher‑education appropriation at $2,100,000 to help stand up programs in prisons.
Ray also offered a cost estimate to policymakers: he told the committee that making the Achievement Scholarship available to incarcerated bachelor‑degree seekers “would cost the state less than 1,000,000 dollars,” a figure he contrasted with broader appropriations. He described the change as a high‑return investment that reduces recidivism and generates public savings.
Committee business included a brief procedural motion: Representative Mueller moved to approve the minutes of 04/16/2026, which the committee approved with no objections. Members asked clarifying questions about campus locations and tuition trends but took no votes on policy changes during the hearing. The subcommittee adjourned after the presentations.
Why it matters: Lawmakers have limited spots in state aid programs and face questions about which models best broaden access while containing cost. The witnesses framed the Achievement Scholarship and a restored tuition grant as complementary tools that would extend aid to nontraditional learners and help sustain institutional innovation such as Hope Forward and prison‑based degree programs. Next steps: presenters invited committee site visits; no legislative action was taken during the hearing.
