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Some Michigan residents hoping to take advantage of Michigan Reconnect, a new program offering free tuition at community colleges, may find that the program actually only covers about half of their tuition, depending on where they live.

Michigan Reconnect will cover in-district tuition, mandatory fees and contact hours, according to Michigan.gov.

Requirements for eligibility include: anyone who has lived in the state for at least a year, is at least 25 years old and has never received a college degree -- either an associate’s or bachelor’s -- according to the Michigan Reconnect website.

But the “in-district” part of “in-district tuition” has left some Michiganders confused and disappointed, as they have discovered that, even with the program, the cost of a community college degree may be out of their reach, according to Bridge Michigan.

The majority of funding for community colleges in Michigan comes from local property taxes. Each community college is associated with a community college district, and special property taxes levied within that district are used to support programming at the community college.

Students at a community college who live within the relevant community college district pay an in-district tuition rate, but those who come from outside the district -- whether their county has no community college district or they simply wish to attend a community college outside their own district -- pay an out-of-district rate. The resulting cost for out-of-district students may be twice as much as the cost for an in-district student, according to Bridge Michigan. 

Michigan Reconnect would still cover the equivalent of the in-district rate for out-of-district students. But for those who already can’t afford community college, that may be of little comfort.

Only 33 of Michigan’s counties are in a community college district, according to Bridge Michigan. The other 50 -- where approximately 20% of the state’s population lives -- are also home to many of Michigan’s poorest residents who tend to have low academic achievement levels.

Alyssa Merton, a coordinator of the Local College Access Network in Oceana County, said the situation is frustrating for people who live in an area without a community college district. Merton said she has already had difficult conversations with potential students who had only heard that the state would now cover community college tuition but were not aware of the fine print.