Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive directive Thursday calling on state agencies to reach out to young men about programs that could help them obtain college degrees or skills certificates, part of a recently outlined goal to close a gender gap in Michigan’s higher education settings.
Such a gender gap is evident in state educational data — as of the 2022-2023 academic year, 53% of students enrolled in undergraduate programs at Michigan universities or community colleges were women, compared to 39% of students being men, according to the state Center for Educational Performance and Information.
That gap is even wider, the governor’s office says, in the state’s tuition-free Michigan Reconnect program for adults looking for a degree at a community college or a skills certificate at a trade school.
The program, launched in 2021, provides scholarships to adults 25 and older who don’t have a postsecondary certificate to cover tuition costs at a local community college or trade school. It received bipartisan support at its inception and one point was even expanded to include individuals 21 and older, although the program is now back at its original 25-and-up age limit.
Right now, close to 130,000 people are enrolled in either the Reconnect program or the Michigan Achievement Scholarship, according to the governor’s office. Two out of every three enrollees in the Reconnect program last year were women, a disparity state officials believe could be due to a lack of outreach.
“This program is open to everyone, but men just aren’t signing up,” Whitmer said at a Thursday morning event at Oakland Community College livestreamed by WWMT-3. “We think it’s because a lot of people just don’t know about this opportunity, and that’s why this executive directive is really important. We want more men to use programs like Reconnect so they can go to college and learn more and earn more.”
The Michigan Achievement Scholarship, also set to be highlighted under the executive directive, allows recent high school graduates to receive funds to attend universities, community colleges or enroll in a skills program. The program was launched in 2022.
In her State of the State speech in February, Whitmer said she would be issuing such a directive to make an effort to reach more young men about higher education options in Michigan. Closing the gender gap in higher education, Whitmer argued, will lead to higher earning potential.
When Whitmer came into office in 2019, she outlined a goal of increasing the percentage of adults in Michigan with some sort of postsecondary certificate to 60% by 2030. In 2019, the share of adults with such a certificate was 45%, according to the governor’s office. In February, the proportion was 52%, Whitmer said at an event at Grand Rapids Community College.
Widening gender gaps in higher education isn’t a trend limited to Michigan. A 2023 analysis of census data by the Pew Research Center found young men made up 44% of college students nationally, down from 47% in 2011.
Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com
