GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Five years ago, 251 students stepped onto the Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) campus for the first time, laden with backpacks and books but without financial burdens.
They were selected to receive the Grand Rapids Promise Zone Scholarship, which provides eligible students in Grand Rapids with a tuition-free education at GRCC.
Now in its fifth year, the program has grown rapidly, with a little over 2,000 students supported so far.
In the fall 2024 semester, around 700 students enrolled as a direct result of GR Promise, and Promise Zone leaders say 2025 is shaping up to be another year of large enrollment numbers.
That includes sophomore Alexsandra Aguilar-Delgado, 19, who enrolled in the community college after graduating from Grand Rapids’ City High Middle School.
In her second year as a GR Promise student, Aguilar-Delgado said she plans to transfer to Ferris State to study plastics engineering technology.
She said the Promise Zone scholarship will ultimately give her the opportunity to use her degree to help support her family in ways she couldn’t otherwise.
Tom DeJonge, chair of the Grand Rapids Promise Zone Authority Board of Directors, said the scholarship is critically important to give students educational opportunities.
These strong students within the Grand Rapids community are in turn very important to the city, said DeJonge, former Superintendent of Grand Rapids Christian Schools.
What is GR Promise?
Intended to promote community revitalization, a 2009 Michigan law allowed promise zones – or state guarantees to provide college scholarships – in 10 Michigan communities with above average rates of childhood poverty.
In November 2017, former Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation increasing the number of Michigan’s designated promise zones from 10 to 15, creating the opportunity for Grand Rapids to secure a spot in 2018.
In January 2020, the Grand Rapids Promise Zone Authority Board signed off on a plan that would give free tuition to students who live in Grand Rapids and graduate from a designated high school within the city limits.
DeJonge said the success of the program so far has been in large part due to the initial vision of former Grand Rapids Public Schools (GRPS) Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal, also the former board chair.
“Without her vision and without the strong support of the charitable, philanthropic community in the city of Grand Rapids, the Promise Zone would not be positioned as well as it is today — and it is positioned very well,” he said.
The scholarship, part of a partnership with GRCC, covers up to 72 credit hours – or at least two years – at the community college.
Students must take at least six credits in the fall and winter semesters to remain eligible, but can take up to five years to finish their degrees.
Students also receive money for books, supplies and fees associated with their courses. They can go to school full-time or part-time.
Those who opt to attend a different college or university can still use the Promise Zone scholarship as a GRCC guest student during the summer semesters.
The scholarship program was initially funded using a combination of private and corporate donations and investments, with an estimated $2.9 million cost for the first five years.
By the end of 2021, that fundraising goal was exceeded, with approximately $3.2 million raised to support the program.
Starting in 2022, the scholarship was also funded in part by capturing “tax increment financing funds,” meaning a portion of the City of Grand Rapids’ State Education Tax was set aside for the program.
The promise zone started collecting that money in 2020, but couldn’t use it until two years later.
DeJonge explained it as a replacement over time, from philanthropic donors to tax dollars.
Within the first 10 years, the promise zone was projected to capture just over $30 million, with a projected 10-year cost of around $22 million.
The tax capture money was expected to fully fund the promise within five years.
Ashlee Mishler, director of the Promise Zone, confirmed the program is now currently funded through tax capture.
Mishler said additional information requested about the total cost of the program and funding raised so far wasn’t yet available.
Who’s eligible?
To qualify for GR Promise Zone, students must both reside in and attend a high school located in the city of Grand Rapids.
Students who enrolled in a Grand Rapids high school before 10th grade are eligible for 100% of the GR Promise scholarship. If a student enrolled before 11th grade, they are eligible for 50% of the scholarship. Students who enrolled in 12th grade are not eligible.
There are currently 25 high schools – traditional, private and charter – that are eligible. They include:
Historically, the number of eligible students ranges from a little over 800 to nearly 1,000 each year.
In 2023, for example, over 900 students were invited to attend GRCC with promise zone financial support.
In addition to being a Grand Rapids resident, students must apply for federal financial aid through completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year.
The scholarship is “last dollar,” meaning once a student’s total need-based grants are determined, eligible students would receive a scholarship to pay the remainder of their bill for tuition and mandatory fees.
There is no GPA requirement.
How has the program changed?
DeJonge said the program has raised the visibility and awareness of GRCC substantially, in public, private, Christian/Catholic and charter schools.
“Grand Rapids Community College has been, over many decades, a highly regarded community college in the city of Grand Rapids,” he said. “For the Promise Zone to have been able to become established in Grand Rapids has tremendously broadened opportunities for kids from all walks of life to benefit from the two year programming that’s available there.”
In its first year, GRCC enrolled a little over 250 students. In the fall of 2024, the community college boasted 700 enrolled GR Promise students.
Mishler said GR Promise hasn’t yet released its fall 2025 enrollment numbers, but anticipates the 2025-26 school year will be among its largest class yet.
That’s in part due to an increase in eligible high schools, up to 25 from the 22 that qualified in 2020.
It could also be attributed to a more aggressive recruitment strategy, with seven dedicated high school coordinators that have been added onto the GR Promise Zone team.
These counselors work directly with high schools to guide students through their college journey, helping with applications, financial aid, course registration and campus life.
Aguilar-Delgado said these supports are what she feels have been the biggest benefit while a student in Grand Rapids.
“We’re meeting students where they are,” Mishler said. “We start building relationships during their sophomore, junior and senior years of high school so that by the time they’re ready to enroll at GRCC, they’ve got someone in their corner.”
She said a team on the GRCC campus is also available to help students with follow-ups and provide “whatever support they can,” whether that’s connecting them with other resources, providing them with test-taking tips or even being a listening ear.
“They’re really here to support students and whatever they might need,” she said.
The program itself has also expanded, Mishler said.
GR Promise originally offered up to 60 credit hours, and now offers up to 72 “attempted credit hours” at GRCC or an eligible job training program.
The program also offers $500 stipends directly onto GRCC student ID cards, if they enroll in the fall and/or winter semesters, for on-campus expenses such as parking, food and printing.
In 2024, two Senate bills signed into law expanded the state’s promise zone rules to allow them to use funds to pay for student expenses beyond tuition, mandatory fees and qualified educational expenses.
DeJonge said the stipends help provide all students, regardless of economic status, with “the closest approximation of a college experience as possible.
“With college experiences there come expenses,” he said, and the board was “pretty unanimously in support” of providing stipends to help.
Looking ahead
DeJonge said it’s a “pivotal time” for GR Promise and its board, as terms expire and new board members are brought in.
He said it’s “critically important that astute, well-connected members of the Grand Rapids community continue to serve on the board.
“Board governance is a really critically important thing,” he said. “It’s not something that’s glitzy or glossy and fancy, but it is so critically important that they have a strategic mindset and can see the bigger picture and not micromanage staff.”
Mishler said there will be more changes coming to GR Promise soon.
“We are working on a larger announcement,” she said, “some really exciting things for the promise.”
Stay tuned, she said, as the announcement will likely come in the next month or so.
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