U-M shifts funding from DEI to tuition-free Go Blue Guarantee

The University of Michigan said it is redirecting money it previously spent on a diversity, equity and inclusion initiative into a tuition-free program for students, and that shift has already expanded the number of students receiving aid, officials said.

U-M said the tuition-free Go Blue Guarantee is now awarding support to an estimated 6,387 students on its Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses in 2026, with the university estimating the program will provide $55.97 million to cover tuition and fees. U-M said that represents an increase of 2,601 more students—nearly 70%—than the 3,786 students who received $26.25 million through the same program in 2025, citing data it provided to Bridge Michigan from the university’s Academic and Budgetary Affairs office.

U-M said it made the funding change after it shut down an eight-year-old multimillion-dollar DEI initiative a year earlier. The university said that DEI effort, which it said aimed to diversify the campus community and change its culture, employed 163 full-time people, mostly staff members, who also spent 37% of their time on other responsibilities. U-M said the salaries associated with the DEI initiative cost about $15 million annually, and that after the program ended, the university eliminated 14 positions, 36 other employees left in 2025, and the remaining staff returned to their units or another unit.

Since the DEI initiative ended, U-M said the majority of the funding has shifted to the Go Blue Guarantee, which provides free tuition to students from families with incomes up to $125,000. In 2018, U-M launched Go Blue Guarantee as part of the DEI initiative on the Ann Arbor campus, and it later expanded the program to the Dearborn and Flint campuses in 2022, U-M said.

U-M said the program’s income threshold and asset threshold increased over time, and that it is now open to students with family income and assets up to $125,000. The university also said that in 2026 it will cover the full cost of attendance—including housing—for students enrolled in teacher preparation, nursing and social work, while noting that full cost of attendance coverage for students in the school of music, theatre and dance is still pending.

U-M said the Go Blue Guarantee estimate for 2026 includes students with different racial backgrounds, with the university reporting that 44.5% of the participating students are white, 17.4% are Black, 12.4% are Asian, 5.6% are Hispanic, and 20.2% are other or more than one race. U-M also said that since it launched the program in 2018, Go Blue Guarantee has provided $223.8 million to 25,796 students across the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses.

U-M said some of its former DEI investment is going to other student support initiatives as well. Those include providing 24/7 AI tutors and a personal AI assistant for all campus members, and improving advising, counseling and pre-professional guidance, the university said. U-M also said it would increase access to mental health services such as its “Let’s Talk” program and wellness check-ins, expand its Blavin Scholars Program for undergraduates who experienced foster care, kinship care or do not have parental or guardian support, and continue to support student spaces including the Trotter Multicultural Center and the Spectrum Center. U-M also said the Wolverine Village residence hall, expected to open in fall, will include three multicultural lounges, and that the university will continue supporting cultural events such as MLK Day and Powwow celebrations.

U-M Board Chair Mark Bernstein said U-M’s refocusing of funds is reflected in the increased scale of the Go Blue Guarantee. “The millions of dollars invested in the DEI initiative, ‘was refocused on the students, and the expansion of the Go Blue Guarantee is clearly a result of that refocus,’” Bernstein said, according to U-M officials.

For context, U-M’s reported tuition and fees for in-state undergraduate students vary by campus. U-M Ann Arbor said in-state undergraduate tuition and fees cost $18,346, while at U-M Dearborn the figure is $16,240 and at U-M Flint it is $15,622, according to an annual report from the Michigan Association of State Universities.