Wayne State University attracts thousands of students from metro Detroit and from outstate but the number of students enrolled in its own backyard, Detroit public schools, has hovered for years around 7-8% of the undergraduate population.
A new program aims to change that.
Warriors on the Rise, a program announced in September, offers guaranteed enrollment to qualified high school juniors at Detroit Public Schools Community District and other benefits like mentorship and free or discounted tickets to campus events.
It is the first program that directly addresses the need to boost enrollment of DPSCD students at Wayne State.
The new program is part of Wayne State’s efforts to create more opportunities for Detroit students, former president Kimberly Andrews Espy, who spearheaded the program, previously told BridgeDetroit. She has since departed WSU two years before her contract expired.
A similar program, UT San Antonio Direct Admission, operates at University of Texas at San Antonio, where Espy was provost.
Detroit public school officials plan to take the first step and automatically enroll juniors with a 3.0 grade point average into the college. Their families will then be invited to a meeting with the district to discuss the next step.
The hope is that the acceptance at a major university will build students’ confidence and that they will enroll there or at another college, said DPSCD Deputy Superintendent Alycia Meriweather.
“If we can increase the number of students who get into Wayne State or another institution and finish, you are talking about changing their trajectory, (and) of the city and potentially the state,” said Meriweather.
The number of Detroit public school students enrolled at WSU as first-time undergraduates went from 192 in fall 2018 to 316 students in fall 2024. The numbers dropped slightly this year to 294 students in fall 2025.
The total number of WSU undergraduates who attended Detroit public schools has increased, from 1,187 students in 2015 to 1,363 in 2025. This occurred even as WSU’s undergraduate student enrollment declined from 17,669 in 2015 to 16,390 students in 2025.
In fall 2025, total enrollment at WSU was 24,168.
Graduation rates lag those of the overall Wayne State population. Of the 139 DPSCD students who enrolled in 2019, 70 earned a degree six years later in 2024, or about 50%, according to data provided by WSU. During that same time period, 60% of all first-time, full-time students graduated from WSU.
‘Taking things a step further’
Wayne State is the state’s third-largest university, located in Detroit’s Midtown neighborhood, and DPSCD is the largest K-12 school district in the state.
Wayne State estimates that a first-year in-state undergraduate student would pay $15,388 in tuition this semester and up to $26,006 for total costs, including books, transportation, and more, if living at home. That number jumps to $33,244 if the student lives in the least expensive dorm on campus.
WSU officials note that 6 out of 10 WSU students don’t pay any tuition at all because of financial aid that is available from the federal and state government, along with financial aid from the university. Part of the Warriors on the Rise program includes financial aid sessions prior to enrollment.
Wayne State’s initiatives geared toward the broader Detroit community include the Heart of Detroit Tuition Pledge, which offers free tuition for students of Detroit high schools or residents earning a high school diploma, and the Detroit Promise, which ensures that any eligible student graduating from a high school in Detroit will have a tuition-free path to a two-year or four-year institution. However, Warriors on the Rise is the first direct admissions program specifically created for DPSCD students.
For educators, the program is critical since Detroit students from disadvantaged backgrounds face numerous barriers to college access.
“Prior research has shown that clarity and certainty about the college admissions and financial aid process are important determinants of student enrollment in college,” said Brian Jacob, a University of Michigan education professor. “To the extent that WSU guarantees admissions to high school students, this can only help boost enrollment.”
The purpose of Warriors on the Rise is to expand access to higher education for Detroit students and provide resources and exposure to the collegiate experience, said Charles Cotton III, vice provost of strategic enrollment management at Wayne State.
“One of the main reasons that this just felt right and timely is that we already provide an amazing tuition guarantee for our residents of Detroit and Detroit high school students,” he said. “This takes things a step further as it matches our financial support for these students with additional college prep, additional collegiate exposure and affirmation that not only will the cost be mitigated, but that you are eligible, that you are worthy, that this is an opportunity for you. The students have these amazing opportunities at a research institution in their own backyard.”
Removing barriers
Warriors on the Rise guarantees admission for all DPSCD juniors who earn a 3.0 GPA or higher and who complete at least two credits each in English language arts and math. Students are considered for the program after they complete their first semester in January, Meriweather told Bridge. The district will send notifications to qualified students in February and then work with Wayne State to set up meetings with the families, she said.
“We want to see a pretty tight timeline of notification of acceptance, the family student meeting and completing paperwork for students who actually want to enroll because we also want to make sure we’re doing everything possible to connect students and families to all of the scholarships that are available to them,” Meriweather said.
In addition to automatic admission to the university, students in the program will enjoy other benefits, such as:
- Career peer mentorship
- Readiness workshops
- Academic advising
- Financial aid sessions for families
- Transportation support through WayneRides
- Free or discounted tickets to campus events
- Opportunities for dual enrollment courses at Wayne State
Meriweather said conversations about Warriors on the Rise started about a year ago when Espy wanted to replicate the UT San Antonio program. She believes the program will help remove some barriers Detroit students face like not being college-ready or not having the money to attend college. Meriweather said students in the Detroit school district don’t have a talent or an intelligence gap, but an opportunity gap.
“Figuring out how to remove the barriers that prevent our kids’ talent from moving forward is really what we’re trying to do, both during the time they’re with us (at DPSCD) and then as they leave us,” she said. “It’s not that the opportunities aren’t there, but when barriers become so many, the opportunities can get lost, and so, it is extremely important to remove barriers so that young people have the greatest opportunities possible.”
Helping students reach the finish line
Robin Jacob, a professor at the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, said Warriors on the Rise is a step in the right direction and elevates Wayne State as a possible path for many DPSCD students.
Jacob is the co-founder and faculty co-director of UM’s Youth Policy Lab, a research center that develops evidence-based, policy-relevant research in partnership with local and state agencies, practitioners, and policymakers. In 2021, Jacob co-authored a report titled “Detroit Students’ College Pathways and Outcomes.” The report found that while many Detroit high schools offer college-supportive resources, the majority of graduates are not college-ready. Additionally, students report financial concerns, lack of transportation, and family responsibilities as other obstacles to enrolling and staying in college. Jacob said those factors are most likely why Wayne State’s enrollment rates are so low.
“I don’t know to what degree it will increase enrollment,” Jacob said about the program. “Getting students to enroll is only part of it, right? You have to encourage students to enroll, but then provide them the support to help them graduate and there are a lot of factors that play into that piece of it as well. But anything that we can do to sort of reduce the number of barriers is a positive thing.”
Like Jacob, Cyekeia Lee has heard about direct admission programs in other states and is thrilled to see this partnership between Wayne State and DPSCD. Lee is the director of the Detroit College Access Network (DCAN), a community-based organization dedicated to promoting higher education in the city. DCAN works with more than 50 district and charter schools across Detroit to get students interested in college and they provide professional development to Detroit-area counselors.
According to data from DCAN, Wayne State was the top university for Detroit students from 2016 to 2022, with 2,110 young people enrolled during that time period. Wayne County Community College District, Henry Ford College, Michigan State University, and Eastern Michigan University rounded out the top five.
“For some students that we talk to, that is their number one institution, especially those that want to look into engineering, law or medical school,” Lee said about Wayne State. “And some have even said, ‘Wayne State wasn’t necessarily my number one choice,’ but there’s the combination of the early admit, the Heart of Detroit award, being able to utilize the Detroit Promise, and then staying locally. When you get to alleviate some of those, it makes the decision easier.”
Regarding Wayne State’s enrollment numbers for Detroit students, seeing those numbers steadily increase over the past 10 years gives Lee hope that they’ll continue to trend upward.
“It can’t only be on the institution to get those numbers up, we have to lean in as a community and really support the school district (DPSCD) because they’re doing their part also by having this partnership,” she said. “But in order to get those numbers higher as a community, we have to give more college-going culture talking points and opportunities to young people to see that number rise higher.”
Cotton, the vice provost from Wayne State, said the university remains committed to DPSCD students due to its wealth of resources, as well as its commitment to following Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Sixty by 30 goal, which aims to have 60% of working-age adults obtaining a skill certificate or college degree by 2030. Currently, the number is 51.8%.
“For us, this work becomes critical because we want to see the students not just start their collegiate journey, but complete their collegiate journey,” he said. “The more exposure students have to that early on helps them further reinforce the academic pursuits that they’re truly in. What we hope and expect from the program is just to see a continued growth across the district and students attending higher education more broadly and of course, attending Wayne State.”
Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. She can be reached at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.
Kim Kozlowski is a reporter for Bridge Michigan. She can be reached at kkozlowski@bridgemi.com.
