EMU offers free tuition to WCC frontliners

by XAILIA CLAUNCH
Editor

Eastern Michigan University will offer scholarships to WCC students who received free tuition under Michigan’s new Futures for Frontliners program.

What is Futures For Frontliners?

Part of the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program provides essential, frontline workers a tuition-free path to community college. Those frontline workers include Michigan residents who worked outside their homes, at least part-time, when the pandemic closed all but “essential” businesses.

Students must also apply for federal aid and Pell grants.

According to Linda Blakey, vice president of student and academic services, as of Monday, Dec. 6, around 3,800 students had listed WCC as their school on frontliners applications. Initially, around 80% of these applicants were already enrolled at WCC, but as the deadline approached, more applicants were new students.

Frontline workers who earn an associate’s degree at WCC are eligible to pursue a bachelor’s degree at EMU, with either a partial or full scholarship.

The Frontliners program provides a “last dollar” scholarship. That means the state will pay anything not covered by other aid and Pell grants. Those other sources may cover tuition at WCC.

Do I qualify for a full or partial scholarship at EMU? 

Pell grant-eligible students who transfer to EMU from WCC may receive a full scholarship, covering 12 credits per semester, for up to five semesters.

Frontliners who are not Pell-eligible may receive $5,000 total, divided into $1,250 per semester for four consecutive semesters of 15 credits.

Why was this scholarship created? Who is it available to outside of WCC?

Kevin Kucera, EMU’s chief enrollment officer, says that Henry Ford College approached Eastern about extending the Frontliners program to HFC students. They agreed and decided to offer the same scholarship to other local community colleges. So far, Jackson College, Oakland Community College, and Macomb Community College have also partnered with Eastern.

Kucera estimates that one or two more will join the agreement in the near future.

“Most of the frontliners will probably want to stay near to where they went to community college, so we reached out to schools geographically near us,” Kucera said.

I didn’t receive state dollars from the Future for Frontliners program because my tuition was covered by aid. Can I still get a scholarship at Eastern?

Yes, even if you don’t receive a Frontliner scholarship at WCC, Eastern bases its scholarship on aid you receive after filing FAFSA there, not at Washtenaw. If you were a frontliner and meet the other criteria, you can still get free tuition at EMU, says Kucera.

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