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The Michigan Senate needs to keep its Promise, bring back the scholarship

By Editorial Board on September 28, 2009 1:00 am in Editorial / 5 comments

 

The state of Michigan needs to keep its Promise.

The bill is sitting in Lansing and waiting on the votes for approval to add $120 billion to the state budget in order to restore the Michigan Promise scholarship.

This is a no brainer-decision. Stifling the bill any longer will only hurt Michigan and its young population.

The Michigan Promise is a $4,000 scholarship for students to attend colleges in Michigan. The scholarship is awarded to those who pass the Michigan Merit Exam, Michigan’s standardized test. All students in Michigan are required to take the test. The test and the scholarship were created to make sure students were meeting educational standards and to encourage postsecondary education.

The Michigan state budget is a mess, and cutting the Michigan Promise was the quick solution. But politicians need to be aware of the long-term effects of such a drastic decision.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Michigan’s unemployment rate has hit 15.6 percent as of July. The days of Detroit being a major manufacturing powerhouse are over, with skill labor jobs disappearing all over the state.

Now more than ever, Michigan needs to educate young minds. If Michigan is to survive and recreate the strong economy it once had, innovative thinking and lots of imagination will be needed to create new jobs. The foundation for a more promising future starts with educating students today.

It may not be fiscally possible to bring the scholarship back in full. The $4,000 scholarship may have to be reduced to $2,500 as it was a few years ago. But reducing the scholarship makes far more sense than simply getting rid of it. In such a tight economy, students will take every dollar they earn and use it toward higher education.

Most of the opposition for reinstating the scholarship persists from lack of funding.

“It’s like having your checkbook all gone and writing something you don’t have — there is no loose $120 million around,” said State Rep. Bill Caul, R-Mount Pleasant, when asked about the proposal.

But the Michigan Senate has to think beyond the present when budgeting. If the money isn’t present for the scholarship, it needs to find a way to make it present. If cutbacks in other areas of the budget have to be made in order to bring back the scholarship, so be it.

Perhaps the full $120 million won’t be needed, especially if the scholarship is reduced from $4,000 to $2,500.

There are a lot of problems Michigan is facing right now, and education is a key factor in finding the solution to these problems.

Don’t hinder higher education.

Help students who will build a brighter future and bring back the Michigan Promise.

 

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  • http://hotmail Alisa Gremore

    I could not agree with this article more had I written it. When I first heard they took away this particular schlarship, I thought the ptb had to be on drugs or dumb as rocks. Quick solutions are just a way of attempting to get rid of the problem as fast as possible and more often than not turn out to be a mistake. On top of this, separate, is if you are going to commit state suicide and take away scholarships for the young and capable don’t do it after the kids are well underway in the semester. I am aghast that this maay occur, I know some kids will be packing up and going home to watch tv (there are no jobs) because they had planned on and needed
    this scholarship and are maxed out on loans and have used all other resources. It wont look good on the evening news to show these kids packing up. (Duh)

  • Phil60

    I understand the State of Michigan is in a financial bind and can no longer provide the Michigan Promise Grants. That should be for any new students. But for those that were granted the funds last year or even four years ago, the State made a “Promise”. This is money that these students planned on to help pay their way through College. It was a community contract, you do well in school and we will help you. Set up a new Lottery Game to pay for the shortfall but pay the students what you agreed to pay. Show our future generation that our community word is our bond. Stop being politicians for once, be true to the “Michigan Promise”.

  • Andrew

    Better idea: stop raising tuition every year to offset the cost of the scholarship loss for students.

    Tax and spend baby, tax and spend.

  • Sheryl from Livonia

    Luxuries?? College assistance…..Mental Health Care….Education……??? Mr. Bishop thinks these are luxuries?? What we have in Michigan is the second highest paid legislators in the country!!! What we need in Michigan is a PART TIME LEGISLATURE!! Cut all of their salaries and staff members in half. That ought to save us a few bucks. Probably enough to at least restore the Promise Scholarship. Put a tax on soda pop, bottled water and entertainment tickets to increase revenue. These taxes are at least optional for those who don’t want to pay them. Don’t want to pay the tax, then don’t buy pop or bottled water. The Republicans in Michigan are using President Obama’s Stimulus money to plug the holes in their budgeting process, yet won’t give an inch to the requests of the Democrats in the Michigan legislature. The Democrats need to grow a spine and fight for the little people in our society. We need help!! Rep. Dillon is a spineless wimp who needs to get booted out of office. We need an educated populous if Michigan is ever going to recover. Governor Granholm wants high tech and green jobs to come to Michigan. Who the hell is qualified for those jobs? She did say we would be “BLOWN AWAY”!! She just did not tell us that we would be blown right out of the state. Our children are suffering as they try to further their educations. They are leaving the state in droves and we are all ready to follow them. We were PROMISED the PROMISE SCHOLARSHIP!! We all know what a promise by Michigan government means…..Our children know that their government has failed them here in Michigan. The Governor and the legislature in Michigan have broken their promise and don’t care about educating our children. They just sit in Lansing working a few days every year collecting their big salaries with complete disregard to the suffering of the citizens.

  • Jessica Bonamy

    Some promise! I worked my ars off for that money. It was a deal. I earn the grades the state gives me the help. Without it I can’t go to school. It’s one thing to say you won’t have it next year. Fine- it sucks but I have the slim chance of finding another source for tuition. The worst of this whole mess isn’t that they’re BREAKING their PROMISE but they’re going to do it AFTER THE SCHOOL YEAR HAS STARTED! How am I and students like me supposed to find that money halfway through the semester!?! Why is it that education is ALWAYS on the chopping block! This isn’t fair! It isn’t right! And it’s down right cruel!