The cancellation of the Michigan Promise scholarship has caused concern for students.
But not for those at Saginaw Valley State University and Michigan State University.
SVSU decided to pay for the fees that would have benefited the students via the scholarship.
“With the timing of being halfway through the semester, we thought it would be most appropriate to pay for the students expenses,” said Donald Bachand, Academic Affairs vice president for SVSU. “We absorbed a significant cost, but it seemed like the right thing to do.”
The Michigan Promise was not included in Michigan’s $44.5 billion state budget signed into law by Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Oct. 30 because of cut funding.
The Promise was a state-sponsored scholarship signed Dec. 21, 2006, replacing the Michigan Merit Award. It provided $4,000 to students attending at least a two-year institution.
Approximately $700,000 from SVSU’s funds are being used to pay for the Promise Scholarship.
“We would have spent it on programs for the students and improvements to the campus,” Bachand said. “But either way, this benefits the students.”
Out of the school’s entire population of 10,498 students, only 1,400 are given the money to pay for their tuition, said J.J. Boehm, media relations director for SVSU.
Those 1,400 students will get the credit on their student accounts immediately, Boehm said.
SVSU president Eric Gilbertson made the final decision with the university’s governing board.
Val Meyers, associate director of financial services at MSU, said the students who received the Michigan Promise will be compensated with a university grant one semester at a time.
“Students with the fall award will be replaced with an MSU grant. Students with the spring award will also be replaced by the same grant,” she said. “It’s a two-step process.”
Can’t afford the promise
Other schools, including Central Michigan University, still say they will not pay for the scholarship.
At Grand Valley State University, the billing statements have already been sent out to those supposed to receive the money.
“It’s a promise from the state, not from the university,” said Matt McLogan, vice president of University Relations. “At GVSU, we only accept good students who usually have that Promise scholarship.”
At GVSU, the Promise scholarship elimination affected 7,300 students. At the beginning of the school year, the student were told if the scholarship were to not pass, they would have to pay themselves.
“It was something that we warned our students,” McLogan said. “It doesn’t make it any easier to swallow, but they knew ahead of time. It’s a shame, because it sends a signal that education in this state isn’t a main priority.”
GVSU’s President Thomas J. Haas informed students in September that since the state could not keep its promise of aid to students, the university would have to revise students’ bills.
“It is regrettable that the state cannot fund these scholarships to our students, but Grand Valley simply cannot absorb the cost of fulfilling the state’s promise,” said Mary Eilleen Lyon, assistant vice president for News and Information Services. “We do understand that the cancellation of aid this late may cause unusual hardship for students.”
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Tony Wittkowski
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This makes me furious that some schools will pay for it and others like CMU wont. I had to take less credits this semester because I was not informed I wouldn’t be collecting scholarship money until it was too late to sign up for loans for the semester.
CMU needs to help out in some way with the Promise Scholarship. I have two kids at CMU who both received the Promise scholarship and now in November I have to try to come up with 2000.00 that I do not have. At minimum at least allow a payment plan into next semester to give parents time to come up with the money. One of my kids got a nasty email about being behind and I’m hearing that they can’t sign up for classes with everyone else until I pay up! I’m afraid they may need to just come home and go to community college. I’ve gotten no communication from CMU regarding what they will and will not do and when I called the financial aid office they were actually rude.
Senior year of high school, I was offered a scholarship for $3,000 a year from SVSU, while Central offered me nothing. Still, I chose CMU because I fell in love with the campus and the programs they offered, and the CMU Promise sounded like a pretty good deal. Reading this article just adds to the growing pile of reasons why I’m starting to wonder if I made the right decision coming to CMU.
I’m at junior status this year, and because the state cut the Michigan Promise Scholarship I lost out on $2,000 that I was counting on. To make ends meet I’m taking half of my credits at MMCC this year. I know I’m not alone, because my classes at MMCC are full of guest students from CMU in the same situation.
With both the CMU Promise and Michigan Promise Scholarship gone, less freshman will start coming in, which means less money from residence halls and tuition. Add that to the number of current students supplementing their education with community college transfer credits, and the university is losing money.
I wonder if they realize just how much of our money and our confidence they’re missing out on in the long run by not following SVSU and MSU’s example.
This is great for those students. My son is at U of M and they are NOT honoring the promise. I am very disappointed.
For those students needing scholarship help, we did find many useful tips here: http://www.how2winscholarships.com.
I am a third year student at GVSU. I didn’t receive forewarning that we would need to pay for the promise scholarship of the state cancelled it. I was supposed to receive $1000 per semester this year. In october I received an e-mail from Grand Valley telling me that I had 2 months to pay back the $1000 that they had already given to me. I work as well as attend school full time and there was no possible way for me to pay back this money on the schedule that they demanded it. They wanted $500 dollars a month this is more than I make after bills and taxes. If GVSU is serious about helping their students in the wake of this unfortunate situation and the actually need the money back, then they for one should be more understanding in the policies that they set. Right now the way they are handling the situation not only shows that education is unimportant to the state, but also to them as a school as well.