Granholm, Cherry: President's Graduation Initiative Supports Michigan Plan to Double Number of College Graduates

July 14, 2009

Access to higher education, training key to state's economic success

WARREN - Governor Jennifer M. Granholm and Lt. Governor John D. Cherry, Jr. today said President Obama's commitment to preparing people for jobs of the future supports the administration's goal of doubling the number of college graduates in Michigan. 

"Five years ago, we embarked on an aggressive agenda to double the number of college graduates in Michigan with bipartisan support through the Cherry Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth," Granholm said.  "Today, we have a partner in the White House who is helping to ensure that our plans for education and job training have the support they deserve."

Lt. Governor Cherry noted that the president's visit to Michigan confirms what we know:  higher education is the key to economic success for individuals and the state of Michigan.

"We know from our work on the Cherry Commission that long-term prosperity for the people of Michigan will come through greater access to higher education," Cherry said.  "President Obama clearly understands this, and it is validation of our efforts in Michigan that he would announce this significant federal investment in higher education today here in Macomb County."

Since 2004, the Granholm administration has put in place the following initiatives designed to prepare students for success in continuing their education beyond high school and ensuring that workers of all ages have the training they need for jobs in the 21st century:

• rigorous high school graduation requirements that are among the toughest in the nation, designed to prepare students for success in college and the workplace.
• universal college admissions testing for all high school students that encourages students to continue their education beyond high school.
• Michigan Promise Scholarship, Michigan's first universal scholarship that helps make it possible for every student to continue their education.
• Early College High Schools offering students the opportunity to combine their high school education with college-level coursework, allowing them to enter good-paying jobs immediately after graduation.
• 21st Century Schools Fund to help school districts replace large, impersonal schools that fail, with smaller schools that use strong relationships and real-world rigor to help kids succeed.
• No Worker Left Behind, providing up to two years of free tuition at any community college, university, or other approved training provider to gain the skills and credentials for new careers in high-demand occupations, emerging industries, or to start a business.
• Promise Zones, modeled after the successful Kalamazoo Promise, that allow 10 communities with high rates of poverty to use growth in the state education tax to support a local effort to promise a college education to the K-12 students who reside in the zone.

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