© 2024 WEMU
Serving Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County, MI
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

EMU Launches New Debt Forgiveness Program

EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

A new program at Eastern Michigan University is helping students get rid of some of their college debt by giving back to their community.

The new Eagle Engage Corpsprogram is intended to help current and former EMU students who started college but couldn’t finish due to financial challenges.

EMU will forgive around $2,000 of student debt, if participants take at least 9 credit hours and complete 100 hours of community service before the end of the Winter 2019 semester.

The program’s director, Decky Alexander, says there are around 1.5 million adults in Michigan who went to EMU and other colleges but never finished.

“And a lot of them have just maybe a couple thousand dollars on an account, but they still can’t re-enroll in school,” says Alexander.  “So we really wanted a debt forgiveness program that combines community engagement.”

Alexander says there’s been a lot of interest in this pilot program so far, and they’re looking into the possibility of expanding it.

Non-commercial, fact based reporting is made possible by your financial support.  Make your donation to WEMU todayto keep your community NPR station thriving.

Like 89.1 WEMU on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

— Taylor Pinson is a writer/reporter for 89.1 WEMU News.  Contact him at 734.487.3363 or email him studio@wemu.org

Taylor Pinson is a former WEMU news reporter and engineer.
Taylor Pinson is a former WEMU news reporter and engineer.
Related Content