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Department of Human Services changes Bridge Card eligibility requirements for college students

By Brad Canze on February 10, 2011 1:00 am in Isabella County, Student Life / 22 comments

 

Central Michigan University students who are enrolled in Michigan’s Bridge Card food assistance program could see that monthly allowance of money for food come to a complete halt.

Beginning April 1, being a college student will no longer be enough to qualify for the program.

“In order to qualify for food assistance, a student must be working at least 20 hours a week or have a child under the age of six,” said Mark Stevens, director of the Midland and Isabella County Department of Human Services.

Previously, status as a college student could be a determining factor in the application for a Bridge Card.

The decision, made by the state DHS, could affect up to 15,000 of the 25,923 college students statewide receiving food assistance, according to a Wednesday report by the Lansing State Journal.

The new eligibility requirements for food assistance, which can provide up to $200 a month for students, will go into effect April 1, and all current food assistance recipients who do not meet the requirements will see their aid end that day.

Stevens said the DHS will begin the process of closing accounts electronically in mid-March, so they will all close on April 1. He also said everybody whose account will be closed will receive a letter to inform them of such.

The Lansing State Journal reported Isabella County has the second-highest number of students on food assistance with 3,433, behind only Ingham County, which contains Michigan State University.

Trenton freshman Brenden Sall said he believes the new eligibility requirements may take food assistance away from students with a legitimate need.

“They’re using it to their need,” he said. “Obviously if they’re applying for it, they need it.”

Ohio sophomore Scott Meyer receives food assistance and is unsure of whether or not the changed eligibility requirements will affect him. If he is affected, it is only by the narrowest of margins on his time card at work.

“I work 10 hours (a week) at one job and close to ten hours at another job,” Meyer said. “It would affect me because I don’t receive any money from my parents.”

Illinois junior Tricia Henry said, coming to Michigan from an outside perspective, she saw the food assistance program as overly generous.

“When I first came here I was like, wow, they’re just giving things away for free,” Henry said. “I think it’s a good program, but maybe a little too generous. We don’t have anything like that in Illinois, not to that extent.”

Meyer said he depends on food assistance while working two part-time jobs to support himself and his school expenses.

Although it would directly affect him, he said he agreed with the state’s decision to tighten the requirements to receive assistance.

“I don’t know about having a strict number of hours, but requiring students to have a job is a step in the right direction,” Meyer said. “I know a lot of kids who do abuse it and mooch off the program.”

Meyer also said he is unsure of the decision to immediately stop all aid for students who do not meet eligibility on April 1.

“I know mine said I was approved until Sept. 2011,” he said. “I feel you should remain eligible for that stated time and then just not be eligible for the next period.”

 

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  • jillybean

    It is about time freeloaders that don’t need it, save it for someone that NEEDS it.

  • jillybean

    I guess I am having second thoughts, what about students that work 15 hours a week and from a family that doesn’t help. I don’t think they should be punished for trying to better. Also some people cannot find work in this town. THis is ASSUMING that they are getting help or loans. Not everyone is freeloader. THis is a case of a large percentage ruining it for everybody.

  • CMUGrad

    I’m glad to see that the Bridge Card system is being reviewed. I worked a part-time job all through college and paid for all my groceries myself when people that were not working and being supported by their parents were using a Bridge Card. I definitely understand that there is a legitimate need but this system is taken advantage of in so many ways. I knew of many people that were not working and claimed that there class load was too heavy to work. Give me a break! We both graduated with the same degree and had the same number of credits. That is part of being a college student.

  • collegemom

    Just because someone is a single mother does not make them immoral. And good for them for going to college. It’s not easy going to school while caring for children. Single moms are a small percentage of people that receive public assistance compared to students and other families. And even so, yes they do deserve the help if they need it as compared with several college students who abuse the system just to get free groceries even if they don’t really need the help

  • Joe

    Drive down mission I saw 6 places last night with now hiring signs in their windows.
    Its just students dont want to work “Ewww im not working in fast food”, or “im not working at that place”, they would love to have a job where they can sit on facebook all day and do nothing and get paid, welcome to the real world. Theres jobs you just got to go after them.

  • LL

    Wow Specialkpattie, that was extremely rude. Single mothers will be getting it because the state isn’t going to turn their back on children and between going to college and taking care of their child, a single mother may not have time to also work a crappy job. If she’s in school it’s because she’s trying to better herself so she can contribute to society.

    I think this is an excellent idea. I know way too many college students that can’t seem to afford food, yet they can afford to get drunk every night. Too many people mooch and the system needed stronger restrictions. If everyone only took it when they needed it, they wouldn’t have had to do this in the first place. I’m a young mother in school and my fiance works. There was a while when he couldn’t find a job and we needed it to feed our child so we had one. Would we still be eligible today? Probably. But now we don’t NEED one so we don’t have one. That’s how people should use it. No mooching.

  • Svd

    save it for someone who needs it? were paying tens of thousands of dollars to a public university, which will put all of us in massive debt for years to come and they’re saying we dont need it? If anything we need it the most. We are just college kids working mediocre jobs and we are now expected to double our monthly bills when we can barely afford gas in the first place? Doesnt make a whole lot of sense to me

  • Storm

    Where were these places at? I am just wondering because I am looking for a job…not being rude or anything :)

  • CMU Alumni

    Are you a dependent of your parents? If so, then it’s your (and your parents) responsibility, not the taxpayers. Set aside so much of your student loans to monthly food costs, I’m sure you do it for rent, utilities and other expenses. Cut out or reduce activities like eating or drinking out with friends.

    If it’s not enough, make personal sacrifices, take a break and join the military and take advantage of the GI BIll/College Fund which is now $80,000+, there’s a recruiter in Mt. Pleasant. Or join ROTC, they’ll pay for your school in return for a commitment after you graduate. Or is there too much of a sense of entitlement that you want to be given money with little or no sacrifice from yourself?

  • CMUGrad

    Svd- are you really going to sit here and tell me you need it the most? We ALL payed tens of thousands of dollars to the university to get a degree in return just like everyone else. Part of growing up is learning how to plan and budget money. If I made $300 a week or $100 a week, it shouldn’t matter. You learn to live within your means. If you know you only have $50 to spend on food I’m sure you would appreciate it more and it would go a lot further than if you had $100 a week to spend on food. Spaghetti goes a long way and its cheap! You may not be eating prime rib and drinking fine wine throughout college but it will still still teach you how to live within your means. You WILL graduate college and will hopefully get a job.

    Sounds like a classic case of entitlement here…

  • Jeremy30

    Wow 6 jobs really? Problem solved!

  • CMUStudent

    CMUGrad- I am sure you have been following the recent increases in Tuition rates at Central Michigan University. As someone who has consistently received a budget far too low from the Financial Aid Office, I believe that we students actually do have a large need, despite the loans and the debt that comes with them. I have a Work Study position at the University and only work 12 hours a week, due to budget and time restrictions, while also taking 19 credits. For two weeks during the summer I ate nothing but flour and water until I received a Bridge Card. I did that for the same reason that you explained ‘[the money] would go a lot further’ if I had less. However the budget they gave me over the summer that allowed for $5 per week for food simply wasn’t enough. While I am sure you feel upset about the Freeriders and the other forms of abuse and gluttony in the system, I believe it is more important that people have what they need (especially when the substance we are referring to is as important as food) than to give people less than they need so that the Freeriders are forced to work for their food.

    and on a side note: $200 per month won’t provide many Steak and Wine dinners, and not EVERYONE pays tens of thousands of dollars to the University. Your opinion seems more based on subjective than actual objective facts.

    Sounds like a classic case of jealousy here…

  • Specfoam

    Is it $5.00 or $ 50.00 per wk. or can other uses for bridge card be counted>

  • CMUStudent

    The $5 per week was not referring to the Bridge Card, but rather to the Financial Aid Budget provided to me by the Financial Aid Office at my university

  • Here 4 Snow

    I agree… I had a neighbor who had 4 kids with out fathers lives with her parents in a lake front home & collects everything under the sun including free college for her self…While my daughter who lives on her own in MI @ MSU has loans up the wahzoo works 10 hours a week carring a 19 creidt schedule… can’t get a little help to pay for food? That is just wrong… BTW folks we voted with out feet & left that poorly ran state! This might help other students look at wether they actually look for work after graduation in the State of MI! I would not!

  • student

    I am really upset with the new laws for the Michigan Bridge Card. As a senior out of High School, I chose to go to Alma College. I was offered over $10,000.00 in scholarships and also had the Michigan Promise Scholarship. The year there would still cost me $20,000.00 And CMU has just as high of a tuition as Alma. After realizing how expensive school really is, I decided to transfer to a community college. In order to keep the cost for school at a minimum, I joined the basketball team to get some credits paid for. I am in a program that requires A’s in all my classes, in order to be able to get into my program. Basketball is year round at the college level and with balancing it all it would be impossible for me to work another job and receive good marks in my classes. Basketball and school is my job. I plan on staying in Michigan. I want to work here, raise a family here. It is embarrassing to use a Bridge Card. I don’t like to do it, but I need too. I have to pay rent, gas expenses, utilities, and book expenses using loans that gain crazy amounts of interest. My parents can’t help me out that much. The little money I get each month is huge. The fact that because I don’t have a child, and don’t have the time to be working 20 hrs a week to get benefits is ridiculous. I don’t abuse the system. I am working hard in school to help Michigan out. I just wish that they would have my back.

  • student

    You know what? There are students out there that are exempt from getting a bridge card that are struggling to make ends meat. Seriously. For example, I have a friend that has a TBI. As do I. It takes extra time for us to study so we can’t work the 20 hours per week required on top of our school work. Oh, and the only way we could qualify for the bridge card is if we were on disability. So in order for either of us to get the bridge card we would have to take away more of your precious tax payer money. I know I could get on disability if I wanted but I want to leave it for people who are worse off than I am.
    And just so you know, a TBI makes it so you can’t be in the military.

  • Dawn Kenney

    What about the few of us that work(20-32 Hours a week) and who’s spouse goes to college taking 19 or more credits, how fair is that to them and thier kids (who just happen to be older than 6) is it fair to take food out of thier mouths just to apease a few government officials?

  • Dawn Kenney

    What about the few of us that work(20-32 Hours a week) and who’s spouse goes to college taking 19 or more credits, how fair is that to them and thier kids (who just happen to be older than 6) is it fair to take food out of thier mouths just to apease a few government officials?

  • Dawn Kenney

    What about the few of us that work(20-32 Hours a week) and who’s spouse goes to college taking 19 or more credits, how fair is that to them and thier kids (who just happen to be older than 6) is it fair to take food out of thier mouths just to apease a few government officials?

  • Timothy widgren

    I am unemployed, online college student. If it was not for the generosity of churches I truly would not eat. As it is I have lost 41 pounds since my card was cut off. I am 44 and go to school to improve my job marketability. I was told if I worked 20 hours I would qualify. If I worked 20 hours I would not need the food assistance. I literally have no idea where my next meal is going to come from. I am also a father that has his 13 year old son about 10 days a month or 30 meals. That is 30 I cannot eat. I think the State of Michigan is really misusing this new guideline. I do not live on campus, I do not have mom and dad supporting me. I have looked for work and still am, but our economy just is not able to allow that right now. Any sujestions out there? There has to be some way to get assistance when you have nothing.

  • Timothy widgren

    I am unemployed, online college student. If it was not for the generosity of churches I truly would not eat. As it is I have lost 41 pounds since my card was cut off. I am 44 and go to school to improve my job marketability. I was told if I worked 20 hours I would qualify. If I worked 20 hours I would not need the food assistance. I literally have no idea where my next meal is going to come from. I am also a father that has his 13 year old son about 10 days a month or 30 meals. That is 30 I cannot eat. I think the State of Michigan is really misusing this new guideline. I do not live on campus, I do not have mom and dad supporting me. I have looked for work and still am, but our economy just is not able to allow that right now. Any sujestions out there? There has to be some way to get assistance when you have nothing.