The awards pay up to $4,000 to attend college, regardless of need, according to a Lansing State Journal article. Unfortunately, though, Granholm’s plan also necessitates cutting $18.8 million from state need-based scholarships, a figure that is undesirable if not unacceptable.

Why couldn’t the increase in merit-based scholarships be lowered to $21.9 million to save the funds needed to keep need-based scholarships from being cut. Why does the state need to take so much away from one department just to give it all to another?

A good solution to this problem might be merit-based scholarships with an emphasis on certain areas of the state. Merit-based scholarships for historically troubled school districts, such as the Detroit and Pontiac systems, should receive a greater amount of merit-based scholarships than students in the Bloomfield Hills or Birmingham systems.

Although this proposal might tend to disadvantage the middle class once again, the rise in funding for merit-based scholarships will inherently lead to easier access to such scholarships because more will be available.

There is no doubt the middle class needs help paying for college. It is nearly impossible to obtain federal financial aid while college costs keep rising and loans are more difficult to get and then pay back, especially considering today’s job market. It is admirable that Granholm is looking out for the middle class, and it’s a group of people that comprise a large portion of MSU’s student base.

It also is commendable that students can still receive $4,000 in merit-based scholarships by meeting a minimum grade point average of 2.5 throughout college, regardless of test scores.

Scholarships awarded based on test scores sometimes discriminate against lower income students who attend lesser-quality schools, which inhibits students’ abilities to perform well on standardized tests. The Michigan Promise Grants at least do something to guard against this flaw in the educational system.

But with Michigan’s economy, families can go from middle class to dancing along the poverty line in just one day. As General Motors Corp. flirts with the idea of bankruptcy, many households will be affected, and chances of going to college might die with a parent’s job prospects.

Michigan policymakers must be mindful of how many people qualify for need-based scholarships now and how many might become eligible in coming months.

Hopefully there won’t be a drastic change in this respect, but the possibility serves as a reminder of the instability of our economic situation.