A decade of the Promise: Lansing Promise sends more than 1,600 Lansing students to college

Mark Johnson
Lansing State Journal

LANSING — When Salma Torres looks at the students she works with now, she sees herself. 

Torres graduated from Everett High School in 2016. Now she's a college adviser at Everett through the Michigan State University College Advising Corps.

“When I heard there was placement at Everett, I knew that would be awesome to be placed at my high school,” Torres said. “I wanted to help students with their post-secondary plans and help make college more accessible.”

Like the dozens of students she works with as an adviser, Torres at one time was a high school senior looking for ways to fund a college education. 

She knew she wanted to go to college, but feared the cost. For many students, like Torres, the Lansing Promise was another financial source to help pay for a college degree and reduce the amount of student loan debt.

Thanks to a Lansing Promise scholarship, a college career at Michigan State University became a reality for Torres. She graduated from MSU in 2021 and now works with seniors looking to also take advantage of the same scholarship.

"It was such a huge help to be able to have those funds," Torres said. "I definitely think the Lansing Promise, in general, it helped make college more accessible. And it’s helping our current students make college more accessible."

LSJ OPINION:Lansing Promise champions students to believe

The Lansing Promise began funding college for Lansing high school graduates in 2012. Since then, 1,622 students have received Lansing Promise scholarships and more than 600 have earned degrees, transferred to four-year universities after attending a junior or community college, or earned certification in a skilled trade.

A decade after starting, the program continues to expand. At any given time, 600 to 700 students are actively working through a college or certification program. 

The scholarship program also is helping more students of color attend college. As of the spring of 2021, the most recent data available, 30% of the 1,408 Lansing students who received support up to that time were Black. According to the data, 18% of students were Latinx and 12% were Asian. 

Through the program, tuition at Lansing Community College for up to 65 credits is covered for students who both graduate from a public or private high school in Lansing and live within Lansing School District's boundaries. They can opt to receive the equivalent dollar amount and apply it toward tuition and fees at Michigan State University or Olivet College. Davenport University is joining the Lansing Promise as a partnering institution this year.

Most students receive up to $3,000 in assistance, with some obtaining up to $6,800 if they attend a four-year program, said Justin Sheehan, Lansing Promise executive director. 

The Lansing Promise has received about $5 million in donations over the past decade, although it continues seeking community support through fundraising efforts to maintain its ability to provide funding.

The community “is walking with us in ways that we never thought possible,” Sheehan said, with growing numbers of partners looking to fund the Lansing Promise and help the students continue their education and start careers in any way they can. 

“The Promise isn’t the only answer,” Sheehan said. “It’s just a piece of the pie.”

Justin Sheehan

Starting this fall, students will be able to use Lansing Promise dollars to cover course and textbook fees as well.

Reducing financial barriers was the original concept the founders of the Lansing Promise sought to address. But financial barriers can be just one factor in students’ lives hindering them from completing their degree or certification program, Sheehan said. 

It’s why the Lansing Promise is taking a new approach over the next decade, he said, focusing on three things: identity, belonging and opportunity.

 The Lansing Promise — comprised of the Lansing Promise Foundation and the Lansing Promise Zone Authority — wants Promise scholars to realize they are valuable, loved and capable of exceptional things, Sheehan said. The program seeks to show students the opportunities after high school. 

“These are all incredible opportunities for our kids,” Sheehan said. “We don’t want to dictate what they do. We want to walk with them into brighter futures.”

Sheehan said the Promise organization wants to make sure as many students as possible take advantage of the program.

Since the 2012-13 school year, about the time that the Lansing Promise began offering financial assistance, 4,983 students have graduated from a Lansing School District high school alone, according to MI School Data, the state's official education data source. 

That does not include graduates from schools that also are eligible for Lansing Promise support. 

Some of those students went on to colleges and universities that are not covered by the Lansing Promise, like University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University and even out-of-state schools, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sheehan said Promise officials plan to gather more higher education data to see where Lansing graduates who aren't receiving support are going to college. 

In the meantime, they want to at least provide a baseline college opportunity for the students who want it. 

Some Lansing Promise scholars have taken alternative paths, thanks to the financial support.

The Lansing Promise allowed Kylee Kellett reconsider college and career choices without accumulating crippling amounts of student loan debt. 

Former Lansing Promise scholarship recipient Kylee Kellett of Lansing pictured Thursday, June 16, 2022, outside of Downtown Lansing Inc.'s Middle Village Micro Market with her latest painting "Loud Proud Lansing." She created the painting live June 2 during the Block Aid Street Festival at the intersection of Washtenaw and South Washington Square.

She graduated as Sexton High School’s valedictorian in 2016 and received another scholarship offer to attend the University of Michigan, but wasn’t accepted. Then she wanted to use her Lansing Promise support to go to MSU, but decided otherwise at orientation when an overwhelming feeling told her she was making the wrong choice. 

“As I got into college, became an adult and lived in society, I realized that as much money as it was going to make me, it wasn’t going to make me happy,” she said. 

Kellett changed directions and earned an associate degree from LCC. 

She decided art was what made her happy, and because she doesn’t have thousands of dollars of student loan debt, Kellett has been able to buy a home and is now saving to buy and open her own art and tattoo studio. 

She works at Jackson National Life Insurance, sells art and, with her husband, can save money for future endeavors without worrying about budgeting for student loan payments. 

"It’s definitely still stressful, but I don’t have to find different ways to stretch my dollar," she said. "I don’t have to compromise other parts of my life. I have money for bills and I don’t have to stress as badly. It’s one less thing I have to worry about."

'The Promise isn't the only answer'

While Lansing Promise scholars like Kellett and Torres were able to go to college and earn degrees, not every student has been as successful. 

Over the life of the Lansing Promise, scholars have a 92% retention rate, Sheehan said. But he and other Lansing Promise supporters aren’t fully satisfied. 

That’s why they’ve started a completion fund. Starting this summer, Sheehan said, they are completing a review of every student who ever went to college through the Lansing Promise, but who did not earn a degree or certification. They will look at how many credits the student might need to earn the degree, and how many semesters are left before graduating or completing a program. From there, they plan to work with success coaches and students to see if additional funding would allow them to graduate or complete a certification program. 

“I want a 100% completion rate, but that doesn’t mean it’s defined by me,” Sheehan said. “In some way, we want to see some kind of completion … some kind of move into a career.”

Sheehan realizes it takes more than money to complete a college degree or certification program. Academic assistance is also critical. 

At LCC, Lansing Promise scholars are assigned to academic success coaches who regularly check in on the students and make sure they are staying on track to graduate or complete their program. MSU, Olivet College and Davenport University also provide support for Lansing Promise scholars. 

Contact Mark Johnson at (517) 377-1026 or majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.