Full tuition guaranteed to 
in-state students in need

University Regents 
affirm committment 

to low-income 

Michigan families 

By RIYAH BASHA

Daily News Editor

University of Michigan alum 

Lehman Robinson applied to his 
now alma mater on a whim. As a 
first-generation 
college 
student 

coming 
from 
a 
low-income 

household, he assumed the school 
would be out of his family’s means 
— until he received his financial aid 
notice. Six years later, he said he’s 
still grateful for his aid package, 
which covered much of his tuition. 
Still, he had no idea what was in 
store when he applied.

Robinson would now be covered 

by the University’s new Go Blue 
Guarantee: a commitment to free 
tuition for in-state undergraduate 
students on the Ann Arbor campus 
with family incomes under $65,000. 
Set to go into effect in January 2018, 

the announcement was publicly 
revealed at the Board of Regents 
meeting June 15. Even though the 
3,000 students currently on campus 
under that financial threshold 
already typically receive full aid, 
the guarantee succeeded in making 
national headlines as a model of 
affordable higher education.

University officials’ comments 

last week centered around breaking 
down perceptions of the University 
as cost prohibitive.

“I think about the seventh grader 

in Ypsilanti or Detroit or Grand 
Rapids whose mom or dad can say 
to them, ‘Work hard. Do well in 
school. You can go to the University 
of Michigan,’ ” University President 
Mark Schlissel said Thursday. 
“There are a lot of folks now that 
can’t really say that because they 
don’t know if they can afford it.” 

Will the University’s bet — that 

a public, visible commitment to 
financial aid will boost low-income 
students’ application rates — pay 
off?

Kedra Ishop, vice provost for 

enrollment 
management, 
said 

the 
University’s 
preliminary 

analysis indicates such signaling 
messages can be that powerful. 
Much of the University’s impetus 
for the guarantee came from the 
two-year-old 
HAIL 
Scholars 

program, an initiative offering 
“high-achieving, 
low-income 

students” with four years of free 
tuition. Last fall, 262 freshmen 
arrived on campus after being 
directly pursued through HAIL; 
select high schools in low-income 
target areas received application 
waivers, communication to parents 
and school advisers and packages 
complete with a note from Schlissel. 

Though final results have yet to 

be released, Ishop said early HAIL 
analyses were enough to convince 
administrators of the guarantee, 
with application rates at target 
schools rising by as much as 43 
percent.

“That was almost a two-and-

a-half-fold increase,” Ishop said. 
“We’re taking what HAIL taught 
us, and going public with a version 
of that specific commitment.”

HAIL draws from national 

studies 
like 
that 
of 
Stanford 

ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Ann Arbor, MI

Weekly Summer Edition
michigandaily.com

INDEX

Vol. CXXVII, No. 77 | © 2017 The Michigan Daily 
michigandaily.com

NEWS ....................................
OPINION ............................... 
ARTS ......................................
CLASSIFIEDS.........................
MiC.........................................
SPORTS................................

NEWS
City Council

Councilmembers discuss 

Paris Accords and voting.

 

>> SEE PAGE 3

NEWS
Local housing

Students and city leaders 

discuss various housing 

issues affecting Ann Arbor 

residents. 

>> SEE PAGE 2

OPINION
Free Speech

“those with political power 

tend to reap the benefits of 

free speech...”

>> SEE PAGE 4

ARTS
Concert 
Coverage: Lorde 
performs to a packed 
crowd in New York City

>> SEE PAGE7

SPORTS
Muckalt hired

The new associate head 

coach worked with Mel 

Pearson at Michigan Tech.

>> SEE PAGE 11

inside

2
4
6
8
9
10

Planned Parenthood 
supporters emphasize 

impact of bill on 
women’s health

By ANDREW HIYAMA
Summer Daily News Editor

Over 100 Ann Arbor residents 

and 
Planned 
Parenthood 

supporters rallied at the Michigan 
Union Wednesday night to march 
in opposition of the Republican 
health care bill quickly and quietly 
making its way through the Senate, 
as well as the proposed federal 
defunding of Planned Parenthood.

The 
bill 
has 
received 

widespread 
criticism 
for 
its 

lack of transparency. Though 
Senate Majority Leader Mitch 
McConnell (R–Kentucky) said a 
draft of the bill will be released 
Thursday — one week before it 
is expected to come to a vote — 
so far it has only been seen by a 
handful of Republican senators. 
The version of the bill passed by 
the House of Representatives in 
May is expected to increase the 
number of uninsured Americans 
by 23 million, according to the 
Congressional Budget Office.

Speaking to the crowd ahead 

of the march, Lauren Bacans, the 
Mid Michigan Field Organizer for 
Planned Parenthood, emphasized 
the disproportionate impact of 
the Republican’s proposed health 
care plan on women.

“Everything is on the line for 

the 2.4 million patients that rely 
on Planned Parenthood services 
annually and whose healthcare 
is on the chopping block as 

ANN ARBOR

See GO BLUE, Page 3
See PROTEST, Page 3

DESIGN BY MICHELLE PHILLIPS

Residents, 
lawmakers 
voice their 
criticism of 
Trumpcare