Broken Promise, Broken Dreams

By now, any student in the state who was granted the Michigan Promise Scholarship has received the letter. The letter telling them that Michigan has broken her promise, the letter informing them that the state can no longer afford to help its future and fund higher education. It is the letter telling them that they are no longer a priority. It was this letter that crushed the dreams of thousands of students at Eastern Michigan University, and even more across the state. It was this letter that officially broke the news of Michigan’s broken promise.

The Michigan Promise Scholarship was a $4 thousand scholarship granted to Michigan high school students who participated in, and scored well on, the Michigan Merit Exam (MME). The students received the scholarship if they planned on attending a Michigan College, University, or Vocational School. The scholarship was intended to show students that they didn’t need to go out of state for a great education, and students were happy to receive all the help from the state to further their education that they could get.

EMU alone is home to 2.4 thousand students who were granted the Promise Scholarship for the 2009/2010 school year. For many students, like Stephanie Hawkins, an EMU sophomore, it was the Promise Scholarship that allowed them to come to a University. “I really relied on this scholarship. I made my choice to go to Eastern Michigan University partly based on this scholarship. I think that I would have gone to a community college for a few years before going to a University if I would have known that The Promise would be taken away,” Hawkins said. EMU junior Jaclyn Reardon is also suffering the loss of the scholarship, “I still am supposed to receive another $2000, it doesn't seem like a lot compared to what college costs but to a college student with a part time job, it can make a big difference.” The loss of the scholarship means thousands of dollars thrown on top of the already growing pile of debt college students are facing.

With the loss of the scholarship, many students are speculating on the long term effects it will have on the University, “I think that a lot of people are going to leave the University. With school being so expensive, I think it just makes more sense to go to a community college for the first two years,” Hawkins said. The loss of students would mean a greater raise in tuition cost at EMU, who worked hard to have the lowest tuition increase in the state this year with just 3.82 percent hike, or roughly $10 per credit hour. Reardon also voiced her concern for the future, “Fewer students will be able to attend their classes without the money and tuition will rise again which would affect students not being able to attend college,” she said.

This cycle will continue year after year until there is a change in the system. It will only be when the state follows through on her promises and takes the cries of her students to heart that the students will be able to trust their state again.

photo credit: MSUdems.org