Business & Economy

No college degree but lots of debt is ‘worst outcome’

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UNPAID FEES: Unpaid fees keep many low-income students from earning their degrees when their college or university bars them from enrolling while their debt remains. Oakland University has dropped all fees, and Oakland, U-M Dearborn, Henry Ford Community College and Wayne State participate in a program to help such students return to any of their institutions. We also hear from the Michigan Association of State Universities and an MSU student from DeWitt who says dealing with college costs is more difficult than her coursework. By Hope O’Dell. FOR DETROIT, BIG RAPIDS, SAULT STE. MARIE, LANSING CITY PULSE, MARQUETTE, SAULT STE. MARIE, IRON MOUNTAIN, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, STURGIS, THREE RIVERS, GREENVILLE and ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy

Donors want to help community college students with basics

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COMMUNITY COLLEGES GIVING: Michigan community colleges, which are funded mostly by property tax millages, tuition and state aid, are receiving more donations and using some of that largesse to help students cover such essential costs as housing, child care and emergencies. Story includes Henry Ford College, Macomb Community College, Monroe County Community College, Northwestern Michigan College, Schoolcraft College and Delta College, as well as the Michigan Community College Association. By Sydney Bowler. FOR MONROE, ADRIAN, BLISSFIELD, DETROIT, TRAVERSE CITY, LEELANAU and ALL POINTS.

Diversity Issues

Michigan universities lag behind on number of Black graduates

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AFRICAN AMERICAN GRADUATES: New data from the magazine Diverse: Issues in Higher Education show Michigan universities fall behind many of their peers nationally in the number of African American undergraduate and master’s students who receive degrees. U-M Ann Arbor, U-M Dearborn, Wayne State and MSU did make the top 25 in some categories. We talk to university officials and the Michigan Association of State Universities. By Jada Penn. FOR DETROIT, LANSING CITY PULSE and ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy
Graduation rates for a sampling of community colleges in Michigan: Alpena, Lansing, Sidney, Scottville, Harrison, Centreville, Traverse City, Petoskey and Dearborn

Community college grad rates miss full picture

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GRADUATION RATES: New federal figures show the graduation rates for community colleges in the state, led by Alpena Community College and with Henry Ford Community College at the bottom and Glen Oaks College among those in between. But those figures are misleading, says the Michigan Center for Student Success at the Community College Association, in part because many students who enroll at them don’t plan to finish an associate degree there. By Hope O’Dell. FOR THREE RIVERS, STURGIS, ALPENA, ALCONA, MONTMORENCY, DETROIT, GREENVILLE, IONIA, PETOSKEY, TRAVERSE CITY, LEELANAU, HARBOR SPRINGS, MONROE, LANSING CITY PULSE, CLARE COUNTY and ALL POINTS.

Education

Researchers battle tiny menace to craft beers

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CRAFT BEVERAGES: Call the nematodes that threaten Michigan’s hop crops “ninjas” that work in darkness, in secret – then do research to protect the state’s craft beer production. Most of the hops grow in the southwest part of the state. We talk to the state Craft Beverage Council and MSU scientists who are tackling that question, which has a big economic impact. Those already hit hard include hop growers in the Traverse City area. For news and agriculture sections. By Jack Filinksi. FOR STURGIS, THREE RIVERS, HOLLAND, CORP!, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS, TRAVERSE CITY, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS and ALL POINTS.

Capital News Service
Northern Michigan University’s Land Acknowledgement sign on the Marquette campus

Universities link Native American homelands to campus sites

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LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Some public higher education institutions, including Western, Northern, MSU and Grand Rapids Community College are officially acknowledging that they’re located on land that once belonged to Native Americans. Native American students say such acknowledgements are important but that the institutions need to do more to recognize Indigeous heritages and cultures. We talk to the chair of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Indians, with offices in Calhoun County’s Pine Creek Indian Reservation and Grand Rapids, and the president of Northern’s Native American Student Association. By Lindsay McCoy. FOR BAY MILLS, TRAVERSE CITY, PETOSKEY, SAULT STE. MARIE, MARQUETTE, IRON MOUNTAIN, HOLLAND, STURGIS, THREE RIVERS, LEELANAU, WKTV, LANSING CITY PULSE and ALL POINTS.

News
Some key findings of the new Knight Foundation-Ipsos report on campus free speech.

Students divided over campus free speech

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CAMPUS FREE EXPRESSION.:When it comes to freedom of expression, students are like other Americans – divided. They split about how much First Amendment protection they have to speak freely on campus, whether colleges and universities should ban racial slurs and whether they feel uncomfortable or unsafe because of what somebody else said about their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender. New survey shows student attitudes are divided by race and ethnicity, political orientation and, to a lesser degree gender. Campus across the country, in cluding Ferris State, have been involved in recent campus speech controversies. For news and opinion sections. By Eric Freedman. FOR LANSING CITY PULSE, BIG RAPIDS, MARQUETTE, SAULT STE. MARIE, DETROIT, GREENVILLE, THREE RIVERS, IONIA, STURGIS and ALL POINTS.

Campus News

MSU facilities team keeps campus afloat during storm

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As heavy snow hits the Lansing area, staff and students at Michigan State are working through the storm. 

On the third day of in-person classes, some classes were moved back to virtual for the day, while others remained in-person. Student Kaitlyn Sterk had none of her classes canceled, and that during her commute she almost fell four times. Struggling to walk on the slippery sidewalks on her way to get coffee with friends, student Nora Smith described the sidewalks as “horrible,” saying she had fallen on the sidewalk multiple times. 

As the snow accumulates, MSU’s Infrastructure Planning and Facilities worked to prepare for the snow. 

Facilities employee for campus apartments Jeff Trommater said that usually during snowstorms they plan to plow every few hours. What was not usual for a regular snow was that they fitted their trucks with plows the night before in preparation. Despite the roads– Trommater said himself that his 30-mile commute was rough– everyone showed up to work.

Autos & Manufacturing

Failure of community college access initiative frustrates state officials

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COLLEGE TUITION: More than a dozen other states offer universal access to community college, but Michigan, disappointing advocates who say human infrastructure is just as important as roads and bridges. We talk to the Kalamazoo Promise, the Small Business Association of Michigan, and state officials. For news and business pages. By Nicholas Simon. FOR CORP!, LANSING CITY PULSE, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! and ALL POINTS.

Signs, protest, awareness
News

MSU’s DKE fraternity faces demands for accountability on its doorstep

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The safety of Michigan State University’s Delta Kappa Epsilon was questioned Nov. 3 as protesters gathered outside the fraternity’s house demanding accountability from its members. Students chanted outside starting at 10 p.m. until roughly midnight as the night and cold grew, bringing awareness to recent misconduct allegations against DKE initiates.