What is the Detroit Promise?
The Detroit Regional Chamber created and administers the Detroit Promise Scholarship as part of its broader educational work through TalentEd, a signature initiative to increase educational attainment in the Detroit Region. The Detroit Promise offers students who both live and go to a school of any kind (public, charter, private, etc.) in Detroit a tuition-free path to an associate degree, bachelor’s degree, or technical certificate at 32 Michigan colleges.
History of the Detroit Promise
- The origins of the Detroit Promise Scholarship date back to 1988 when the Chamber launched a scholarship called the Detroit Compact for Detroit students.
- Thanks to fundraising efforts by the Chamber with businesses and philanthropic entities, as well as the generous support of Michigan’s public universities, 125-175 students annually received tuition-free college to four-year institutions through higher education partnerships and Chamber endowments.
- While the Compact certainly helped Detroit students, it had a somewhat narrow scope because it focused on a limited number of four-year institutions while being limited to select Detroit schools.
The Creation of Today’s Detroit Promise
- In 2011, then-Governor Rick Snyder tapped the Chamber to develop a new and more expansive scholarship program, which has become today’s Detroit Promise. This revised program launched in 2013 and broadened the scope of the effort to include ALL students in ALL Detroit high schools AND added the option of community college (two-year degrees) in addition to the initial four-year college focus.
- Backed by the efforts of the Michigan Education Excellence Foundation (MEEF), founded by Snyder, Peter Remington, and Steve Hamp, the Chamber and other leaders raised the funds necessary to begin a multi-year effort to fund the new and expanded Detroit Promise.
The Important Role of the Promise Zone Authority
- In 2009, the Chamber was a leader in advocating for statewide legislation that created “Promise Zone Authorities” for local municipalities, including Detroit, to enact in Michigan law a new public funding mechanism (tax capture) that allowed a portion of additional tax revenue based on the economic growth to be dedicated to college promise programs, such as today’s Detroit Promise.
- Based on the Chamber’s earlier work, the Chamber partnered with Mayor Mike Duggan in 2016 to create the Detroit Promise Zone Authority (DPZA) with the goal of eventually fully funding the scholarship program through a Promise Zone tax capture.
- In June 2021, the DPZA made its first contribution to the Detroit Promise of $1.1 million.
- Today, thanks to the growth of Detroit, the DPZA is generating more than sufficient revenue to cover the costs of the Promise – no longer relying on the business and philanthropic communities when the Chamber first launched the program.
The Role of the Promise Zone Authority Board
- When the Detroit Promise Zone was established, Duggan created the Detroit Promise Zone Authority, an independent oversight Board to provide fiduciary oversight of the taxpayer dollars generated by the Promise Zone.
- As the revenue generated by the DPZA grows, it is appropriate and natural that the DPZA Board has taken a more active role in Detroit Promise, creating a strategic plan to guide future direction and to bolster the effectiveness and usage of the Detroit Promise.
- In October 2025, the Board appointed Chief Executive Officer Onjila Odeneal to oversee its work and to ensure that the Promise program is as well utilized as possible by Detroiters.
- The Chamber is committed to working with the DPZA to continue to grow the Promise program, increase its effectiveness, and provide a sustainable path for young Detroiters to achieve post-high school educational attainment in perpetuity.
- As it has been doing in some form since 1988, the Chamber continues to administer the Promise, doing so now under contract and in partnership with the DPZA.
Other Important Information
- Major expansion in partner colleges and universities: The Chamber has worked to grow the Promise, which started with only five community college partners in 2013. Today, there are seven community college partners and 25 four-year universities.
- Presence in Detroit schools: With a dedicated staff of about 20 working out of the Chamber’s Detroit office, the Detroit Promise team maintains a strong presence in Detroit schools to connect directly with students, counselors, and parents to ensure they are aware of and can access the scholarship program.
- A “last-dollar” scholarship: The Detroit Promise Scholarship is a last-dollar scholarship, which covers all remaining tuition expenses after financial and institutional aid is applied. Students are required to complete the FASFA forms to secure financial aid as they apply to two- and/or four-year colleges and universities.
- Detroit Promise Path delivers student support throughout their journeys: In order to grow student success, the Chamber added and oversees innovative mechanisms, such as the Detroit Promise Path, which assigns a Campus Coach to Promise community college students.
- One of the largest U.S. cities to have such a program: Thanks to the leadership of the Chamber and the business community, Detroit is one of the largest cities in the country to have a promise scholarship offering a tuition-free path to a degree that is open to every student.
- Award-winning program – In October 2025, the Detroit Promise Scholarship received a College Promise National Impact Award from the College Promise, a national, non-partisan nonprofit initiative.
Key Stats
- There are approximately 2,500 Promise students currently enrolled at participating two- or four-year institutions.
- In the 2025 academic year, 90% of Detroit high school seniors registered for the Promise, with 850 enrolling in college in the fall, the largest cohort to date.
- Over 8,000 students have been served by the Detroit Promise as of October 2025.
- Graduation rates for Promise students are well above city peers: 19% to 14% (two-year institutions) and 61% to 38% (four-year institutions), based on the 2018 cohort of Promise students.