House Speaker Craig DeRoche, R-Novi, announced an economic plan on Thursday that included setting aside $1.5 billion of Michigan's tobacco settlement money for the Merit Award program.
The money would be divided between 15 public universities, said Jason Brewer, spokesman for DeRoche.
"Under the Republican plan, no politician will be able to touch the Merit scholarships," DeRoche said in a statement. "The entire current generation of students and their parents will rest easy knowing that the money we promised them will be there."
The House Republican's economic plan involves selling off future tobacco revenue into a lump-sum payment of $3 billion to be put toward the merit award, funding Medicaid and creating investment funds to help the economy.
But some said there's still more that can be done to improve the Merit Award.
"We are pleased that the Republican leadership is now willing to work on the governor's economic plan," said Liz Boyd, spokeswoman for Gov. Jennifer Granholm. "But their plan falls short of what the governor wants to do to strengthen the merit award."
Supporters said changing the way the Merit Award money is given out will prevent legislators from using the money for other purposes.
"Essentially that $1.5 billion will be taken out of the hands of the legislature so that a future legislator during a down time can't raid that fund and take away the scholarship," Brewer said.
Higher Education and Career Preparation Chairman Rep. Lorence Wenke, R-Richland, said he wants to ensure the scholarship money for future students.
"I like the idea of protecting the Merit Award money because I really don't have a lot of confidence that future legislators are going to be as protective of that money as we currently are," he said. "The reason for that is that Michigan's economy continues to decline which I think it will for a few years. Merit money will be a tempting target for future legislators."
Wenke, however, had some questions about the plan.
"The governor had proposed virtually any student who went on for post-secondary education and qualified for advanced training or a degree would get merit dollars," he said. "I don't know how that would work if the money were only given to just the 15 public universities."
But Brewer said there would still be provisions to provide the money to students who go to private schools and community colleges. Details for that still need to be worked on, he said.
Some said the plan needs more development.
"There are very few details," Boyd said. "Based on what we've heard, students would no longer receive the money directly."
Legislative officials will be meeting behind closed doors this week to discuss the economic plan and the possibility of putting $1.5 billion toward the Merit Award.
Currently, the Merit Award money is given out by the state to the individual students.
"We make payments to the schools and then they apply it to the student's financial aid," said Terry Stanton, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Treasury. "(In the plan) they will give a pool of money to the universities to then dole out."
The bill will be written and introduced sometime this summer, Brewer said. There is no set formula for how the money will be distributed to the universities, but it will be based on an average number of merit award winners who have attended each school in the past.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
