Whitmer Announces Plan To Expand Tuition-Free College To 22,000 Additional Michiganders

(CBS DETROIT) - During a briefing on Tuesday at Belle Isle, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the expansion of the Futures for Frontliners scholarship program. The tuition-free scholarships would now include frontline workers who served between November 1, 2020 and January 31, 2021.

With the expansion, upwards of 22,000 additional workers would be eligible to apply for this opportunity. This would add on to the more than 120,000 essential workers who quickly applied for the program when it launched in the last quarter of 2020, according to Whitmer's administration. The additional $100 million investment would come from federal American Rescue Plan funding.

"Today we are taking the last big step to get back to normal, but we will never forget the frontline workers along the way who helped us get here," Whitmer said. "That's why I'm calling on the legislature to join me in expanding the Futures for Frontliners scholarship program to cover the selfless Michiganders who stepped up in unprecedented ways to keep our state moving. As we put Michigan back to work, this will help people get into good-paying, high-demand careers, which will boost our economic jumpstart even further."

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