Side view of a group of multiethnic students in lecture room

 

Any Michigan resident without a college degree who has spent time as a frontline worker throughout the COVID-19 pandemic is now eligible for tuition-free education at a community college.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced The Future for Frontliners program in the spring, but the program was officially kicked off late last week, reports MLive. The program benefits all essential workers, including the janitors, housekeepers, custodians and other members of the cleaning and jan/san industries who have been risking their health by working during the pandemic.

Employees must have worked at least part-time for 11 of the 13 weeks between April 1 and June 30 and have been required by their employer to worker at least partially out of their own home to be eligible.

It's estimated that 625,000 workers are eligible for the $24 million program, which was paid for using the money the CARES Act granted to Michigan. Whitmer says the program is modeled after the GI Bill, which pays for the education of military service members.