Community College Guarantee: Postsecondary Completion Strategy Spotlight
Postsecondary Completion Playbook: Strategy Spotlight
Overview
Postsecondary completion is a key gateway to opportunity. Enrollment opens the door, but finishing the path — whether through a two- or four-year degree, career and technical education, or an apprenticeship — is what unlocks economic mobility and long-term stability. Communities can make a difference by ensuring students have strong support networks, access to financial aid and pathways that lead to meaningful careers.
Postsecondary completion is one of the strongest paths to economic mobility. In Kent County, Michigan, KConnect helped advance the Michigan Community College Guarantee, passed in 2024, which provides up to two years of tuition-free community college for recent high school graduates. KConnect led coordinated advocacy with state legislators and regional partners, sharing local data showing how affordability barriers disproportionately affected first-generation students and students of color. At Grand Rapids Community College, students saved over $1 million in tuition in the program’s first semester, and statewide community college enrollment grew by more than 12,000 students in fall 2024. KConnect shows how local data and partnership can change state policy and change what’s possible for students.
Playbook ChaptersPostsecondary Completion Playbook
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