In the State News editorial "Hopeful Statements" (SN 1/30), I realized, yet again, that Gov. Jennifer Granholm is toying with higher education. As a recent graduate with many friends still in college, I do not think we should allow Granholm to continue to play games with our funding.

Since 2002, she has been trying several ways to make the Merit Scholarship work in her favor, which, of course, is not in the best interests of the college students or the families that pay for their education. First of all, she tried to cut down the amount from $2,500 to $500, and then tried to attach community service hours to the scholarship.

The Merit Scholarship is an academic scholarship based on individual performance on the MEAP test and it should not be attached to your involvement within the community, however nice that may be.

And now, she wants to change the disbursement time of the scholarship completely, disregarding the fact that many students use that money to decide if they even want to attend college or move on to a four-year institution to acquire a better degree.

If Granholm really wants college students to have the best opportunities that are necessary to succeed in the job market after graduation, then she needs to continue to award the scholarships to high school seniors so they can properly invest the money in their education and their futures.

Katie Allardyce
2005 graduate