Warriors in the Community is a radio segment that features short, insightful interviews with key figures from Wayne State University about the many ways in which the university and its programs make a positive impact on the metro area and on the lives of Detroiters.
In episode 30, we talk with Ericka Jackson, Senior Director of Admissions, about the Michigan Assured Admission Pact (MAAP), a cooperative effort among public universities around the state to increase awareness of educational options for recent high school graduates and demystify the admission process. Participating institutions have committed to admitting all Michigan high school graduates who have earned a cumulative high school grade point average of 3.0 or above (on a 4.0 scale).
Announcer: This is Warriors in the Community, brought to you by Wayne State University. And now, to learn about how Wayne State is positively impacting our communities, here's Darrell Dawsey.
Darrell Dawsey: Today, I'm with Erica Jackson, Senior Director of Admissions, and she's here to talk about the Michigan Assured Admission Pact, or MAAP, an exciting new program aimed at broadening access to higher education.
Can you give us a quick overview of what MAAP is?
Ericka Jackson: Absolutely. So MAAP is an initiative between 10 of the public universities in the state of Michigan, basically to provide a better streamlined opportunity for high school seniors in Michigan to apply to college and enroll in college. We're trying to demystify the application process and make it more seamless and easier to navigate for students and families.
The MAAP initiative will start with high school seniors who are graduating in the spring of 2024 and will be enrolling in college in the fall of 2024.
Darrell Dawsey: Now why was it important for us, for Wayne State, to be involved?
Ericka Jackson: It was really important for us to try to remove as many barriers as possible to higher education.
And this is one way to do that. So basically what this means is that high school seniors, as long as they have a cumulative 3. 0 GPA on a four point scale, we'll know that they're admissible to all 10 universities who are part of this pact, including Wayne State University.
Darrell Dawsey: Now, how do students take advantage of MAAP?
Ericka Jackson: All students have to do is apply to Wayne State. They can access our application on admissions.wayne. edu/apply. We also provide a fee waiver code for students to apply for free using WSU 2024.
Darrell Dawsey: What kind of impact do you think a program like this is going to have on college admissions in the state?
Ericka Jackson: We hope that this will help Michigan students who right now are only attending college at a 52 percent rate post-high school graduation. And we want to make sure that students and families know that a university education is not just accessible, but it's also affordable. So along with MAAP, we also have our Wayne State Guarantee Program, which provides a tuition free pathway for students to come to Wayne State for free.
Darrell Dawsey: We can all benefit from a program like this. Ericka Jackson, thank you so much for joining us.
Ericka Jackson: Thank you very much, Darrell. It's great to be here.
Announcer: This has been Warriors in the Community. For more Wayne State news, please visit us online at today. wayne. edu slash wwj and join us here next Monday at the same time for more Warriors in the Community.