Over at the state Capitol, Democrats and Republicans are doing something that doesn't happen too often: agreeing on an issue affecting Michigan residents. And when the two parties agree on something, it makes you wonder what's going on.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration is looking at ways to replace the Merit Award Scholarship back to its $2,500 level after reducing it to $500 with the first round of budget cuts earlier this year. Republicans in the state Legislature think this is a good idea. But the best idea for keeping college affordable would be for Granholm to replace the university funding she initially took away from higher education.
In the initial budget for the 2004 fiscal year, Granholm's administration reduced the scholarship to $500. In the same stroke, the governor cut funding to state universities by 6 percent.
By restoring the scholarship, Democrats are attempting to pull a fast one on Michigan residents. While qualified graduating seniors could receive $2,500 instead of $500, it's an excuse for the state Legislature to continue to make deep cuts to university funding, which in turn causes large tuition increases like the one MSU trustees just approved.
So even though incoming freshmen would have $2,500 in their wallets, the money would cover very little of students' expenses with the newly raised tuition.
And when election time rolls around, these crafty politicians will remind Michigan how they were part of saving the Merit Award Scholarship, which will help their reelection bids, and the cycle would repeat.
Granholm has said she wanted to offset the cuts to the Merit Award by creating more need-based scholarships. This would be a good idea, since it seems like most of the Merit scholarships given out to high school students go to those who would be able to afford college in the first place.
This is because high schools in wealthier areas with more state funding are better able to educate their students.
Better educated students are better test-takers and thus are more able to pass the Michigan Educational Assessment Program, or MEAP, the test which determines who receives the scholarship.
Economically disadvantaged schools with underdeveloped programs won't be able to prepare their students as well as other schools. Students will be less likely to pass the MEAP test and less likely to receive the scholarship. By creating more need-based scholarships, more students would be able to attend and afford college.
But the best solution to the problem would be to simply cut less from higher education funding. If MSU and other state universities didn't have to raise tuition as much, more students would be able to afford college across the board. Thus, less funding would have to be appropriated to need-based programs.
If higher education is really a priority to Granholm and her colleagues, they should realize the best way to make college affordable for Michigan residents is to restore funding directly to the universities instead of playing games with scholarships.
