Loss of Promise Scholarship leaves students upset

MICHIGAN (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Governor Jennifer Granholm signed the remaining six budget bills needed to make sure the government stayed open, but when doing so she issued 75 line item vetoes, cutting $127 million from fifteen budgets.

The governor says she doesn't support many of the cuts in the budget, and will keep pushing to raise revenue to get money back for those programs.

Republicans say they're not raising any new tax revenue, so it appears that Michigan will be stuck with the cuts. The biggest losers in the line item vetoes include Medicaid patients and providers, local governments paying for public safety, school districts, and the Promise Scholarship.

Across the state, the governor's office says that 96,000 students will feel the loss of that scholarship program. Many of those students are at Western Michigan University. Newschannel 3 headed to the campus on Friday to get reaction from students on the loss of that funding.

There are 25,000 students at WMU and now 3,500 of them will find themselves missing $1,000 a year from the Michigan Promise, and they had plenty to say about it.

“My parents are especially upset because they help me out in college,” said WMU sophomore Lisa Nelson. “They're going to have to cut back more because I'm not getting the money the Michigan Promise promised ofr me.”

“It just makes me upset, especially since it's called the promise, and they promised us that it would be there every year,” said WMU sophomore Melissa Phizacklea.

With the cost of tuition what it is, a thousand dollars a year isn't a back breaker for everyone.

“It only takes like a small fraction off of my tuition, but it's definitely nice to have,” said WMU sophomore Sean English.

For others, that money makes all the difference in the world.

“I know a lot of people, like my sister, my roommate, myself, that were relying on it,” said Phizacklea.

“I have a lot of brothers, so I pay for school myself,” said WMU sophomore Aaron Infante.

For students relying on money from the Michigan Promise, many changes may have to be made for them to stay in school, for others there are no options left.

“She's actually dropping out next semester because she can't pay,” said Phizacklea.

“I'm obviously a little annoyed at the state, or whoever's in charge that took it away,” said Infante.

Some lawmakers feel there is still hope for the Michigan Promise, one idea would be a lottery game to raise education dollars, but few in Lansing believe it will actually happen.