State leadership in Michigan has invested in higher education as a key source of talent development ... [+]
In their mission to build robust economies, many state and local leaders are rightly focused on establishing the right conditions to attract employers. But bringing jobs to a state or community is only one half of the equation; the other half is developing the talent to fill them.
That’s where an innovative higher education sector comes in. At their most effective, community colleges and four-year institutions serve as engines of economic opportunity, equipping learners with skill sets that prepare them for a meaningful career aligned with the needs of state and local economies. This is especially important in an era where the costs of college keep rising and people are asking legitimate questions about the return on that investment.
Leaders in Michigan understand this. Over the last few years, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the state legislature have taken on a more expansive view of college, recognizing higher education’s role as a talent developer in a rapidly changing economy.
Like many other states, Michigan faces talent shortages in key industries like healthcare and information technology, and is working to equip more of its population with the skills needed to fill those roles. But given its unique history as the center of American auto manufacturing, Michigan is also grappling with major changes in the automotive industry and working to figure out how to stay competitive.
The shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles has brought with it a significant shift in manufacturing needs. Michigan has recognized the need to both reskill its current workforce and equip more people with relevant skills to meet the demands of the automotive industry as it evolves.
In an effort to meet its shifting workforce needs across all sectors, Michigan was a part of the movement to increase higher education attainment by setting a clear goal of equipping 60% of Michiganders with a postsecondary degree or credential by 2030.
Following the establishment of the goal, leaders in Michigan quickly recognized that the state’s aging population, declining birth rate and 350,000 job openings meant that a focus on engaging or re-engaging people over the age of 25 in higher education would be critical for meeting the state’s workforce needs. The evolution of its efforts to reach and serve those learners over the past few years shows a deepening commitment to expanding both access and success.
During the pandemic, Michigan used emergency funding to launch the Futures for Frontliners program, which initially offered free community college tuition to people without college degrees who were working in essential industries, empowering them to pursue an associate degree or certificate.
The next year, with bipartisan legislative support, the Governor expanded those efforts by announcing the launch of Michigan Reconnect, a program that offers tuition assistance to all Michiganders over the age of 25 without a college degree. Last fall, the governor temporarily lowered the Michigan Reconnect eligibility age to 21, expanding the pool of potential enrollees by an additional 350,000 people. More than 132,000 Michiganders have applied for the Reconnect program since it launched, a number that the state hopes to see expand as the program does.
Although a number of other states have recently built similar programs to engage or re-engage people over age 25 in higher education, Michigan stands out because of its focus on not just on getting more people into college, but on ensuring they succeed there.
State and higher education leaders soon realized that tuition, while a significant barrier to many students, was not the only challenge that needed to be addressed if more adults were to successfully enroll in and complete higher education. Colleges would need to revisit the relevance of their programs to the jobs that were available, and they would need to change their approaches to class schedules, student supports, advising and other services that adults need to access in much more flexible ways than traditional age students.
During the past two legislative sessions, the state invested in an infrastructure to support colleges in serving adults. First, it established the Michigan Center for Adult College Success to create a dedicated capacity to accelerate this work, and then it supplied that center with a fund to provide colleges with grants to support the changes they need to make to become more adult-friendly and more of an economic development partner in their regions.
Philanthropy has also stepped in to support collaborations like Michigan-RAISE, a network of colleges throughout Michigan who are pooling efforts to maximize the impact of these state funds by taking stock of their local economies, better understanding their market for adult learners and designing new strategies to help those students succeed. This includes everything from new recruitment strategies to help potential adult students understand the value and opportunity of returning to school, to fulfilling transportation and childcare needs that too often hold these learners back, to improving career advising so that students can leverage their education to land a well-paying job.
Within Michigan Reconnect, too, there are strategic incentives to boost success beyond offsetting tuition. The program provides bonus funding to colleges for the amount of credits they award adult students for their prior learning, encouraging them to recognize past education and experiences such as military training, industry credentials, work-based learning and more. There is evidence that doing so gives these students a head start in the credits they need to ultimately earn a degree.
All across the state, a wide variety of efforts stemming largely from state leadership are working toward a shared goal of smoothing and accelerating the journey for adults to gain the skills they need to build the economy Michigan wants. Other states who are prioritizing the reskilling and upskilling of people over the age of 25 as a core element of meeting their economic goals should look to Michigan’s joint focus on adult access and success as a blueprint for a more comprehensive and effective way to build a stronger workforce.
