Michigan to launch modern-day GI Bill for essential workers on front lines

Michigan is launching an initiative touted as a modern-day GI Bill that would grant the state’s essential employees free college tuition because of their work during the coronavirus pandemic, the governor announced this week.

The program, which Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is calling “Futures for Frontliners,” will apply to hospital and nursing home workers, law enforcement, sanitation workers, those manufacturing PPE or delivering supplies, grocery store workers, and others, according to a Wednesday statement from the governor’s office.

“The Futures for Frontliners program is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to those who have risked their lives on the front lines of this crisis,” Whitmer said in the statement. “This program will ensure tuition-free college opportunities and give these dedicated Michiganders an opportunity to earn a technical certificate, associate degree or even a bachelor’s degree.”

The program was inspired by the federal government’s initiative to provide soldiers returning from World War II with educational opportunities, Whitmer’s office said.

“I want to assure all of our workers we will never forget those of you who stepped up and sacrificed their own health during this crisis,” Whitmer said. “You’re the reason we’re going to get through this.”

Whitmer did not outline how the program would be funded or when it would go into effect, but said she will be working on enacting it with a bipartisan legislative coalition that last month helped pass an educational program to offer adults over 25 without college degrees tuition-free access to community college.

Michigan has reported more than 40,000 coronavirus cases and over 3,600 deaths, according to the latest statistics.

The original GI Bill was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in June 1944, and then revamped in 1984 by former Mississippi Congressman Gillespie V. “Sonny” Montgomery to ensure that future veterans could also benefit from it.

The bill was updated again in 2008, allowing veterans with active-duty service on or after 9/11 to receive enhanced benefits that cover more education expenses, provide a living allowance, money for books, and the ability to transfer unused benefits to spouses or children.