To begin with, the responsibility to administer the program locally has been given to the local school districts through Michigan Works. As a result there is no consistency from one district to another. One district may still have money available while another does not. The quality of the personnel running the program is inconsistent at best. Some follow through with their clients and others do not. Once a client begins the application process in one district they have to start from scratch again if they want to go to another district office. There is no mechanism to transfer from district to district.
Another problem for me is the invasiveness of the program. They require detailed personal financial information that I am not comfortable disclosing. I don't feel that an individual should have to provide detailed banking statements to any government agency without a warrant or other similar legal instrument. This is a great affront to me and I view it as a violation of my rights to privacy.
Until you attend the orientation, which you may have to wait six months to get an appointment for, you may not realize that the program is a second payer program. You have to apply for a Pell grant first. Only after that application goes through will they pay the balance of tuition up to $5000 per year for two years.
The system is so bureaucratic and poorly organized that it could take months to get through it. By that time you may well have exhausted your unemployment benefits.
Additionally, the community colleges do not have the programs in place yet to train people for the new jobs or if they do, they do not have sufficient seats to meet the demand. More opportunities would be available if the training was available at accredited online institutions but this type of education is not available within the program.
All of these deficiencies can be addressed but only if there is the political understanding of the situation and the willpower to do something about it.
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