SVSU to cover fall Promise Scholarship

November 2, 2009 —

Gov. Jennifer Granholm sealed the fate of the Michigan Promise Scholarship on Friday, signing a state budget that does not include funds originally allocated for recipients of the Michigan Promise Scholarship.

The scholarship offered up to $4,000 to assist qualifying students who would pursue at least two years of higher education.

More than 1,400 SVSU students and 96,000 students statewide are saddled with a broken promise as a result of the $140 million sum not making the cut.

But a promise is a promise to SVSU.

Cardinals already received their financial aid award letters earlier this semester, complete with $500 credits for the Michigan Promise Scholarship.

The University says it will honor the award letters and cover the cost for this semester.

“We thought it was really more than unfair to go back after nine weeks into the semester and say to people who thought they paid up ‘You owe us 500 more,’” said SVSU President Eric R. Gilbertson.

Gilbertson said the University will swallow the roughly $700,000 problem it faced upon the budget’s completion.

“The alternative was not acceptable,” he said. “It could have put a new roof on the Ryder Center … but we couldn’t bring ourselves to ask people in good faith who thought they’d paid up for the fall semester to come up with the money because the state reneged on grants.”

The University can’t do much beyond this semester, however. The scholarship program is dead unless the state can produce the money for it.

“If the state funds it, that’s great,” Gilbertson said. “It would be wonderful if they did, but I wouldn’t urge anybody to count on that.”

Student Association President Ryan Kanine said the issue will likely come up at the Student Association of Michigan house meeting scheduled for Nov. 14 and 15 at SVSU. The conference brings Student Associations from around the state together to combine student voices.

“This is something we need to continue voicing to our state Legislature,” Kanine said. “It’s such a large cost that we can’t expect SVSU to cover it again for the following semester.”

Kanine said he is proud to be an SVSU student after receiving word of the scholarship’s demise.

“I think it speaks volumes for how much our university cares about its students when they are going to get the money they were promised for the fall.”