Gov. Jennifer Granholm will be touring the state in April once again to collect ideas for her Cool Cities initiative, visiting three college campuses to get a student perspective.

The governor will be visiting Grand Valley State University in Allendale on April 14, Northern Michigan University in Marquette on April 15 and Wayne State University in Detroit on April 20. Liz Boyd, Granholm's spokeswoman, said the decisions of which colleges Granholm would attend were based on the location of the schools.

"The governor very much wanted to speak to students from different geographic regions," Boyd said.

While a stop at MSU is not in the governor's travel plans, students interested in attending the forum can attend a meeting at one of the other universities.

The governor will be conducting her visits in a town-hall form - participating in an open discussion with those who attend. Granholm held a similar tour last spring when she first introduced the Cool Cities initiative.

In a written statement, Granholm said keeping the younger generation in Michigan is a critical component in our economy's growth.

"Today's young people and college students are the economic engines of tomorrow," she said. "The state has a vital interest in talking to our young people directly about how we can work together to make our state more attractive to them and to the businesses that are hungry to hire them."

Students interested in attending must register online at www.register.coolcities.com and select one of the three schools where they want to attend the forum. Information about the exact time and location of the event also is available from the Web site.

Spots at Wayne State University are no longer available, but as of Wednesday, Northern Michigan still had about 60 seats available and Grand Valley had about 30 seats left.

Nikke Nason, a 2002 graduate of Northern Michigan and member of the Marquette Cool Cities Committee, will be participating in the discussion when the governor visits Marquette.

"I'm there to help answer questions and get conversation going," she said. "I will be there as an example of a young person who stayed in Michigan."

Nason said she thinks most people her age aren't concerned about whether Marquette is cool or not.

"I don't think the problem is that people wouldn't stay," she said. "People really like the area and want to stay - I think the biggest thing is jobs."

Nason also said she is excited the governor will be up north and hopes Granholm will focus the discussion on job creation to make living in the area more affordable for young professionals.

"The city of Marquette has really hopped on board with Cool Cities, and it has both young and old people on the committee," she said.

Grand Valley spokeswoman Mary Eilleen Lyon said the school is excited to have the governor visit campus.

Lyon said the auditorium reserved for the forum will hold 225 students, and they also will have another room set up with television cameras in case more people show up. She said MSU students are welcome at the event.

"I think students will look at this as an opportunity to let the governor know what would be necessary to make them want to stay in the area," Lyon said.

Alessa Thomas can be reached at thoma470@msu.edu.