LANSING – The yet-to-be-signed Michigan Promise scholarship – the revamped version of the Merit scholarship – received the first in a week-long series of promotional events Tuesday as Governor Jennifer Granholm challenged students at a Lansing High School to accept the state’s offer by pledging to go to college.
The governor, who signed as a witness to pledge cards signed by upper level students invited to a ceremony at Lansing Eastern High School, said, “We want you to pledge that you’re going on. We want your generation, the next generation of leaders, to send a message that you are going to college.”
She emphasized that boosting the number of college graduates is a key part of restructuring the state’s economy. And the governor told students that they had in front of them a “million-dollar” card, a value representing the difference in average earnings between a college graduate and those who do not go beyond high school.
The new scholarship program offers a total scholarship of $4,000 to every high school graduate for use beyond high school: either at a community college, university or some technical training. Students who do well on the state’s assessment test will get $1,000 in their freshman and sophomore years, and the remaining $2,000 upon completion of two years of postsecondary education; those who do not perform as well on the tests would get the scholarship at the end of the two-year period.
The only requirement for students in the new program (SB 1335 and HB 6302 ) is that they maintain a 2.5 grade point average.
Two neighboring states are also moving to providing scholarship incentives to get students to attend college, but the proposals in Indiana and Wisconsin also would require the graduates to remain in state for a specified number of years.
The tentative Big Bang proposal announced last week in Wisconsin to provide full tuition for students at all the state’s colleges and universities has a 10-year commitment. At this point, it is just a recommendation to the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin system, and the commission that proposed it recommended another task force be created to fully develop it along with other ideas to aid higher education.
The costs of the tuition aid would be covered by a bond, backed by the higher salaries of those who stay in the state after graduation. Those who leave early would be required to repay part of the tuition.
In Indiana, Governor Mitch Daniels last week proposed a Hoosier Hope scholarship, which would be for forgivable loans of up to $20,000 to select students who attend any state college or university and agree to work in the state for three years. Those who left would have to repay the loans. In another bid to boost the state’s higher education profile, Mr. Daniels proposed a special fund to create endowments to attract top researchers and scholars.
Like Michigan, Indiana ranks in the bottom third of states in the proportion of residents with college degrees.
Funding for the new Indiana initiatives would come from upfront proceeds from franchising the state’s lottery to a contractor, which would run the program for a fixed term. The award would go to students who perform well on tests and who maintain a 3.0 grade point average in college.
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