Wayne State Committed to Giving Detroit High Schoolers a Chance at a College Experience
By Micah Walker | June 14, 2024
As president of Detroit’s largest university, Kimberly Andrews Espy is never off the clock when it comes to engaging with students, faculty, and the community.
Nearly a year into her tenure, the Wayne State University leader said she considers that work a key part of her commitment to reaching more Detroit high school students and lessening enrollment barriers.
“We recognize coming to college is an investment,” Espy said in a recent interview with Bridge. “It’s an investment in yourself, it’s an investment in your family, and it’s an investment in the sense of meaning and purpose for a future.”
The university is dedicated to eliminating barriers for Detroit students, including meeting them at their schools, partnering on community events, making test scores optional on applications, and offering scholarships that cover full tuition.
There were 2,828 Detroit students enrolled at Wayne State for the fall of 2023, including 529 incoming undergraduate students, said Ericka Matthews-Jackson, Wayne State’s senior director of undergraduate admissions. The overall enrollment for incoming first-year students was 2,988.
The university’s recruitment team has a regular presence at Detroit high schools, Espy said, and teens are often invited to visit the campus for events like new and admitted student days. Wayne State also partners with the Detroit College Access Network for recruitment events and student assistance in completing college applications and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, orFAFSA.
The university offers a scholarship program specifically catered to Detroit residents called the Heart of Detroit Tuition Pledge, which offers free tuition for students of Detroit high schools or residents earning a high school diploma. Wayne State is also one of 26 Michigan colleges that honors the Detroit Promise, an initiative administered by the Detroit Regional Chamber that ensures that any eligible student graduating from a high school in Detroit will have a tuition-free path to a two-year or four-year institution. For the 2023-24 school year, 443 students received the Heart of Detroit award and 125 students were part of the Detroit Promise program.
With the median annual income in Detroit averaging around $37,000, Espy understands the biggest barrier high school students face when enrolling in college is financial.
“When you couple the Pell (grant), the Michigan Achievement Scholarship and our own financial aid programs … you begin to have a widespread impact on the ability for students to be able to afford college,” she said. “This last fall 59% of our incoming class paid no tuition and no fees.”
Wayne State’s goal is to remove barriers to a college education
When it comes to student outreach in Detroit, Wayne State has a two-person recruitment team that works with high schools in Detroit Public Schools Community District as well as the city’s charter schools, Matthews-Jackson said.
“Typically, what happens is in the fall, we do high school visits and then we have special relationships with several schools, including Cass Tech, Renaissance, and Martin Luther King,” she said. “And we have designated days where our admissions counselors will go and meet with students who are interested in applying to Wayne State, help them complete their applications, and make sure that they’re getting the support and resources that they need.”
To reach students outside of school, the recruitment team partners with the Detroit College Access Network, a community-based organization dedicated to promoting higher education in the city. The two entities host college fairs and application nights, and Wayne State participates in the annual Metro Detroit Youth Day at Belle Isle.
A group of Detroit high school students gathered for the Detroit College Access Network’s Decision Day in May. The organization works with students in metro Detroit to encourage them to pursue higher education. (Tyrell Boydston/DCAN)
Wayne State is also working to remove barriers in the application process. In 2020, the university made it optional for students to submit test scores from the ACT or SAT to be considered for admission. In addition, Wayne State is one of 10 universities in the Michigan Assured Admission Pact, which admits all Michigan high school students with a 3.0 GPA or above.
After students are accepted to the college, admission counselors help teens with next steps, like signing up for orientation and reviewing financial aid packages, Matthews-Jackson said. Counselors are busy during the summer too, meeting with kids at Wayne State summer camps offered to middle and high school students.
“We want to have more of a relationship with the students and families that we serve so by the time their student applies and is ready to make their admission decision, Wayne State is very familiar to them and they know that they belong here,” Matthews-Jackson said.
But this year, counselors faced two taxing challenges: DPSCD let go of many of its college transition advisors due to budget cuts, leaving some students with little to no support in school to navigate the college application process.