GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Starting this school year, students at Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC), through the Grand Rapids Promise Zone, will start getting funding for support programs including $500 credits per semester on their Raider cards.
“So far, I’m taking four classes,” said GRCC student Alexsandra Aguilar.
She is a freshman and the first person in her family to attend college. She says the Grand Rapids Promise Zone made it possible.
“It would have been a burden,” said Alexsandra.
The Grand Rapids Promise Zone was started five years ago and covers tuition, books and fees.
Alexsandra said, “My mom, she was going through Facebook, and so she found a post about the Promise Zone, and she was like, 'Oh, you know, you get to go to college for free.'”
This summer the state of Michigan voted to provide more funding to the program.
“We were able now to apply additional Promise Zone funds to help students experience a full college sort of an experience themselves,” said Grand Rapids Promise Zone Chairperson Tom DeJonge.
The Promise Zone will now provide more staff to support student success and will provide mental health assistance.
“Mental health and well-being have become a hurdle and a roadblock for schools to be able to support students, because students today are struggling more than ever before with mental health and well-being issues,” said DeJonge.
Also, the program will now add $500 per semester to a student’s Raider card to cover additional on-campus expenses like food, parking and printing.
Alexsandra said, “With the $500 stipend that they gave us, it was very easy to focus on just my academics.”
Additional support means students like Alexsandra are well on their way to becoming successful students.
“We are firmly confident that students at Grand Rapids Community College will be positioned even more to not just be in school but to flourish, succeed and graduate into the world of work or a four-year university,” said DeJonge.
To qualify for the Grand Rapids Promise Zone, students must reside in the city and graduate from an eligible high school.
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