Whitmer nets GOP support for tuition-free programs

Delta Township– Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is netting key support from the business community and some Republican lawmakers for her large-scale plans to provide debt-free tuition to high school graduates and older adults who want to learn new job skills.

The development is a boost for one of the Democrat’s signature policy goals – increasing the number of working-age adults with a postsecondary degree or certificate to 60% by 2030, from 45% now.

Michigan Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rich Studley pledged the group’s “full, unequivocal” backing of her proposals, known as Michigan Reconnect and the Michigan Opportunity Scholarship. Small Business Association of Michigan President Brian Calley praised Whitmer’s “visionary leadership.”

Bills to create the two programs were introduced in recent days after Whitmer unveiled them in her earlier State of the State speech and budget proposal . She is asking the GOP-led Legislature to swiftly authorize tuition-free community college or technical training for nontraditional students – those 25 and older without an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. The Reconnect program would benefit an estimated 51,000 students starting this summer and cost $110 million over two years.

Read more: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/04/20/whitmer-gop-business-support-tuition-free-programs/39370995/