Grand Valley State University (GVSU) is offering free tuition to some students from northern Michigan.

GVSU has announced it will launch a new program called the Grand Valley Pledge, which will waive up to four years of undergraduate tuition and course fees for low-income students in six counties throughout the state. Grand Traverse County is one of those six counties, alongside Calhoun, Kent, Muskegon, Ottawa, and Wayne.

In-state tuition and fees at GVSU for the 2020-21 school year are $13,244 for lower division students (those with fewer than 55 credits) and $13,908 for upper division students. In launching the Grand Valley Pledge, GVSU stated that “When it comes to access to a first-class college education, a student's family income should not be a barrier.”

To qualify for the Grand Valley Pledge, a Grand Traverse County student must be admitted to GVSU “as an undergraduate degree-seeking freshman” for the Fall 2021 semester. Other criteria for the pledge include:
·       The student must be part of a household with a family Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of $0 to $50,000 per year, as reported on the Free Application for Student Financial Aid (FAFSA)
·       The student must be part of a household with total family assets of $50,000 or less, also as reported on the FAFSA
·       The student must be enrolled as a full-time GVSU student (12-15 credit hours) for the Fall 2021 semester

In addition, students need to do the following in order to remain eligible for the Grand Valley Pledge for the full four-year period:
·       Maintain good academic standing at the university, per GVSU’s “Satisfactory Academic Progress” policy
·       File a FAFSA annually
·       Continue to meet the aforementioned requirements for family AGI and total assets

“The Grand Valley Pledge is a commitment to our communities,” said Grand Valley President Philomena V. Mantella. “It is another way of assuring that we create opportunity and advance equity in the communities in which we live and teach, as well as inspire a broader movement of making higher education accessible to all.”

Shannon Owen, GVSU’s director for Northern Michigan Programs, tells The Ticker that GVSU selected Grand Traverse County as one of its focus counties for the Grand Valley Pledge “because of our physical presence here in Traverse City.” GVSU maintains a “Traverse City Regional Center” at the Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) University Center, offering programs locally such as a bachelor of allied health sciences, a master of educational leadership, and a master of physician assistant studies.