Three years of Bearcat Advantage: How Battle Creek’s free-college program is changing students’ plans

This story is part of Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative’s coverage of equitable community development. SWMJC is a group of 12 regional organizations dedicated to strengthening local journalism. Visit swmichjournalism.com to learn more.

BATTLE CREEK, MI — Tyler Gilland graduated from Kalamazoo Public Schools in 2005, one year before the launch of the Kalamazoo Promise.

He watched his younger friends receive scholarships to Michigan colleges of their choice. Meanwhile, he was figuring out whether he could afford any college classes.

Gilland took classes at Kalamazoo Valley Community College while working full time. He didn’t graduate with his bachelor’s until he was 27.

“Back then in schools, they didn’t ask you, ‘Which college do you want to go to?’” Gilland said. “It was more like, ‘Are you going to go to college, yes or no?’”

Now, Gilland is the principal of Battle Creek Central High School.

His students won’t have to worry about the financial barriers he faced, as the district launched its own version of The Kalamazoo Promise in 2023 called the Bearcat Advantage.

Battle Creek Public Schools students are eligible for up to 100% tuition coverage at four-year Michigan colleges and universities as well as historically Black colleges and universities across the country through the program.

District leaders hope the free college program will encourage students to graduate high school and enable more of them to attend college.

The district’s goal is to reach a 90% graduation rate by 2031.

In 2025, 69.5% of students graduated — far from the milestone, but the highest rate in six years.

The push can’t just start senior year. BCPS is starting the college preparation process with freshmen, Gilland said, which is helping more students get to a place where they can take advantage of the scholarship.

Three years in, here’s how the Bearcat Advantage has impacted Battle Creek.

Creating a college readiness culture

Most BCPS high school students attend Battle Creek Central High School. A smaller group, roughly 80 seniors every year, attend W.K. Kellogg Preparatory High School, the district’s alternative school.

Battle Creek Central began instilling a college-going mindset years before the Bearcat Advantage was announced, Gilland said.

The Bearcat Advantage is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The nonprofit granted $15 million to the district in 2023 when the Bearcat Advantage was announced. That was on top of a $51 million grant the foundation announced in 2017 to transform Battle Creek Central and advance other programs across the district.

After receiving the initial grant, Battle Creek Central shifted from a traditional education model to a model where students are taught through Career Academies. The academies are small learning communities where traditional academic coursework is paired with work-based opportunities, per the district website.

“We went all in on, ‘How do we transform the educational experience to be more meaningful and targeted for the student?’” Gilland said.

Battle Creek Central students are enrolled in a seminar course their freshman year where they take aptitude tests and career interest assessments. They also research colleges and programs they may want to pursue.

At the end of the year, they declare one of eight pathways: information technology, finance, business, engineering and skilled trades, nursing, healthcare, public safety or education. Those pathways are separated into two academies: The Academy of Business, Engineering and Industrial Technology and the Academy of Health and Human Services.

Sometimes, students realize they don’t like the pathway they chose, Gilland said.

If they realize that in high school, “They’re not wasting time and money and resources when they get to college,” Gilland said.

But some students, especially first-generation college students, ran into a wall when they realized they couldn’t afford the college experience they were preparing for.

Having those conversations about how to create “economic mobility” for students is what led to the Bearcat Advantage, said Superintendent Kimberly Carter.

Among last year’s class, 78% of Bearcat Advantage applicants were students of color and 72% were first-generation college students.

Having the promise of free college at the end of the tunnel changed how Battle Creek Central approached their students too, Gilland said.

“We’re not meeting you where you are, we’re meeting you to where you’re going,” Gilland said.

A door opened

Before the Bearcat Advantage, the cost of tuition was a barrier preventing students from seeing college as a viable option, Gilland said.

But now, that’s changed.

Among 2024 graduates from BCPS, 51% of students applied for the Bearcat Advantage. Among the Class of 2025, 68% applied.

Between 260 and 310 students are eligible for graduation from BCPS every year, according to MI School Data. The amount of tuition coverage a student receives depends on how long they’ve been enrolled at BCPS. Students who only attend high school in BCPS receive 65% of tuition.

In the first two years, the program awarded a combined total of more than $1 million to 114 students, per district data.

The Bearcat Advantage isn’t a carbon copy of The Kalamazoo Promise. The Promise covers 10 years post-graduation and includes community colleges and skilled trades programs. The Bearcat Advantage only covers six years post-graduation and four-year institutions including HBCUs. The Promise does not include HBCUs.

Black students are the largest demographic group graduating from Battle Creek Central, Gilland said.

Regardless of whether they use the scholarship, more students are graduating from BCPS since the program began.

The district’s overall graduation rate has returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to MI School Data. Both Battle Creek Central and the W.K. Kellogg Preparatory School are seeing increases in their four-year graduation rate.

Battle Creek Central is nearing the 90% goal with 84.4% of the class of 2025 graduating. The graduation rate is just shy of the school’s highest graduation rate in 10 years, 85.13% in 2019.

At W.K. Kellogg Preparatory School, 33.3% of students graduated in 2025 compared to 16.3% in 2022. The school’s highest graduation rate in the past 10 years was 48.4% in 2018.

Another change since the program started? The most popular “senior decision” has become attending a four-year college. Before the Bearcat Advantage, two-year colleges were the top option.

In the inaugural 2023 Bearcat Advantage class, 44% of students planned to attend a four-year college. The chart below shows the before-and-after change.

While Gilland didn’t grow up in Battle Creek, the Bearcat Advantage is allowing his family to stay in Battle Creek.

When it came time for Gilland and his wife to enroll their children in school, they considered moving back to Kalamazoo — just 25 miles down the road on I-94 — so their children would receive The Kalamazoo Promise.

But when the Bearcat Advantage was announced, the move was no longer necessary.

“I remember my wife crying,” Gilland said. Through tears, she was saying, “We can stay in Battle Creek.”