“It was a great program, it introduced and awarded students for their community service,” MSU’s Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Academic Specialist Christie Schichtel said.

The program was administered through Michigan Campus Compact, a coalition of college and university presidents “committed to fulfilling the public purposes of higher education.”

"(Organizers) were applying for the funding, but the funding pot does not exist anymore,” Schichtel said.

But there may be a push for a program that offers the same opportunities for students.

Executive Director of Michigan Campus Compact Robin Lynn Grinnell said in an email that the organization “has considered a possible reapplication for a similar program, but it would have to be a very focused purpose; all members receiving the scholarships would have to be working on common goals through similar activity statewide.”

Because Michigan Service Scholars worked independently on different types of projects “it was difficult for us to demonstrate any kind of collective program impact,” Grinnell said.

“When the (Michigan Community Service Commission) was presented with a number of program proposals ... they had to make some tough decisions. As a result, the MSS (program) continuation request was denied,” she said in the email.

“This was a disappointment to many students, and to our campuses, but I completely understand the rationale,” she said. “There are limited resources and the AmeriCorps program just can’t fund or support everything. Nothing ‘bad’ happened; there were simply other programs that could demonstrate stronger progress in collectively addressing critical community problems.”

Ultimately, she said, the independence and flexibility service scholars were allowed was “just not a competitive model statewide.”