Access to Education

Promoting Access to a College Education

From its beginning, CEW has worked to create opportunities for students to enter and succeed at the University of Michigan. CEW helps students through counseling, programs and scholarships for students whose education has been interrupted, transfer assistance for community college students, and advocacy on the state and federal level.

Through assistance packages offered by the Office of Financial Aid, the University meets the demonstrated financial need of undergraduate students who are Michigan residents. For out-of-state students, the Office provides information about other sources of financial aid that will help with college costs. New programs like the Michigan Community College Scholarship make it easier than ever for community college students to afford a U of M degree. General sites, such as those run by the U.S. Department of Education and the American Council on Education, provide helpful information about financial aid to prospective students and their families.

CEW supports opportunities for low-income parents to complete degrees at UM and other colleges throughout the state. CEW is a founding member of CFITE --the Coalition for Independence Through Education -- a state-wide organization of college faculty and administrators, student parents, legal advocates and others who support welfare recipients' access to college. The Coalition’s efforts are based on extensive research showing that completion of post-secondary education increases welfare recipients’ wages and benefits much more rapidly than does work experience.

For the past decade, policies in Michigan and the U.S. have made it very difficult for welfare recipients to attend college and work the number of hours required by the state. In 2002, CFITE members presented their report Access and Barriers to Post-Secondary Education Under Michigan's Welfare to Work Policies to state officials. The report demonstrated how Michigan could save money by allowing parents who receive assistance to finish college degrees so they can get good, stable jobs – ones which no longer require them to ask for cash assistance, health insurance and child care subsidies from the state. In 2004, the Lieutenant Governor’s Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth issued its own report calling for increased access to college for all Michigan residents.

Information about attending college while receiving public benefits