Granholm reviving a very different 'Promise'

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A few years ago, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm made a promise to students. That promise consisted of providing eligible Michigan students funding to help pay for their college education. Last November, as many of us know, that promise was broken, and Granholm recently has tried to make up for it by announcing the return of the Michigan Promise Scholarship in her State of the State address two weeks ago and making provisions for it in her 2010-11 fiscal year budget proposal.

Although the bill has yet to be introduced to the Legislature, the governor’s office released the primary guidelines for the revised grant. The bill would allow students to claim a refundable tax credit up to $4,000 for in-state students who have completed a degree in Michigan and work for one year in the state after graduation.

Although it’s great Granholm wants to keep the state attractive to young graduates, she’s bringing the cart before the horse. If the $4,000 isn’t funneled directly into paying for college, it’s just an afterthought. Times are tough, but jobs are what ultimately will keep the students in Michigan, not a few thousand dollars.

The governor wants a way to stop the brain drain, but this isn’t the best way to clog the pipe. Michigan needs a program that will help young people pay for college as they go along, not a $4,000 prize for weathering the storm of Michigan’s economic climate.

If this sounds different from what the Promise used to be, it is. Make no mistake, her new plan is radically different from the original Michigan Promise Scholarship. This is not a triumphant return, but rather an introduction of a new plan.

But this isn’t the first time the Promise has switched identities. The scholarship awarded to students has changed several times throughout the course of the past 10 years. The scholarship began as the Michigan Merit Award, given to high school graduating classes of 2000 to 2006 with up to $3,000 for their performance on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests. Starting with the class of 2007, students began receiving $4,000 for the Michigan Promise Grant based on the Michigan Merit Exam. Last year, funds for the Promise Grant ran dry and forced the state to abandon the funding, putting Granholm and thousands of students in the current situation.

The state is trying to live up to its promise to students by rewarding hard work at school, but the new Promise is much less beneficial than its original version. Students still will get their money — as long as they stay in Michigan after graduation — but now those funds might not be used for their intended purpose: paying for college. Now that the funds come in the form of a tax credit, it comes across as more of a reward than a scholarship.

The state also stands to save some cash with the new plan. Whereas every qualified in-state student once was paid, the new version of the scholarship gives the state a way to save some money. The sum of $4,000 just isn’t enough to entice most students to stay in Michigan after graduation — and the state knows it.

All of this doesn’t mean, however, that Granholm shouldn’t pursue plans to implement the scholarship. The passage of the bill is far from a sure thing, and Republicans will probably oppose it if it means raising taxes. But if Granholm puts this plan into action, she and the state must follow through. There must be sustainable safeguards to ensure students will be paid in full. It will be up to future legislators to continue the plan, but it is up to the current politicians to lay the groundwork.

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