Wayne State’s commitment to social mobility on display at MCAN’s Gaining Access conference

As an institution of access, Wayne State has continuously expanded and improved new pathways to higher education and social mobility. At the Michigan College Access Network's "Gaining Access" media roundtable last week, Dr. Charles Cotton III, WSU vice provost for strategic enrollment, spoke as a panelist and highlighted the work the university has done to improve student achievement and social mobility - and its national success.

"It's something that we, internally, have known for quite some time," Cotton said, "but now the nation understands that our charge and commitment to social mobility is worth noting."

Over the last 15 years, Wayne State has made significant improvements to its student success rates. From 2011 to 2022, WUS's six-year graduation rate rose from 26% to 60%, which is nearly at the national average of 61%. This work has been recognized by the APLU, and has contributed to Wayne State's recent national rankings as a top 100 public university, and a top 100 institution nationally for social mobility. Dr. Cotton credited the ongoing progress partly to how WSU has broadened pathways to college through a network of scholarships, tuition assistance, grants and other financial aid programs. Currently, about 60 percent of all first-year students at WSU attend the university tuition-free.

"We're an institution that doesn't work for communities - we work with communities when we're trying to figure out solutions for the students we serve," Cotton said. "We do that alongside community-based organizations and other institutions of higher education. How that shows up for us is backed by how we distribute our dollars and resources."

Two examples of how Wayne State works with communities, said Cotton, is the Heart of Detroit Tuition Pledge and the Wayne State Guarantee. The Heart of Tuition Pledge offers free tuition for students attending Detroit high schools or Detroit residents earning a high school diploma, and the Wayne State Guarantee uses federal, state and WSU scholarships and grants to completely cover up to four years of full-time study for eligible students. Recently, WSU announced that, for the 2025-26 school year, the WSU Guarantee is open to families with an annual income of $80,000 or less and assets totaling $50,000 or less. This increase in the income threshold expanded access to many families across the state of Michigan.

"It's been our unwavering commitment to Detroit high school graduates or residents of the city of Detroit earning a high school diploma to know - regardless of income level, whether you've figured out how to complete that financial aid application already or not - that you have a tuition-and-standard-fees-free pathway to higher education at Wayne State."

Cotton also noted that WSU also works with students to cut costs by helping them complete FAFSA applications even if they're uncertain about attending WSU: "Our proximity gives us lots of opportunities to connect with students, whether they be in district or community, just to get that document right."

Cotton also explained how statewide tours to K-12 schools by university leadership have further affirmed WSU's affordability mission.

"Our president, provost and myself made a trip out to West Michigan just last October and engaged with a local elementary school," he said. "And the most popular question that we were hearing from students was how do you become a president and what time do you have to wake up? But the second most popular question was, in their own words, 'I heard college is expensive or how much does it cost?'"

Cotton said these concerns too often betrayed a "deficit mindset" that falsely suggested to students that college "wasn't going to be possible or that this was a barrier that, in their household, they didn't have solutions to. And we know what sort of trajectory that can put students on."

To combat such negativity and misperceptions, Cotton told roundtable attendees that WSU is taking a multi-faceted approach and remains determined to build on its growing reputation for student success and enhanced social mobility for graduates.

"We've been heavily committed to engaging within our K-12 districts, to being present as another one of those support systems to bring additional level of excitement, not only for the students, but also for their support networks to know that college truly is possible, whether you're in third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade - or if you're a senior preparing for graduation."