Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2010 / Ending tuition grants opposed
Ending tuition grants opposed
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published February 19, 2010
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposal to end the Michigan Tuition Grant Program to help balance the state budget was seen as limiting access to Catholic and other private institutions of higher learning.
"Elimination of the Michigan Tuition Grant would be devastating for students of Michigan's independent colleges and universities, including Madonna University, said Sr. Rose Marie Kujawa, CSSF, Madonna's president.
The Livonia-based school estimates that more than 1,100 of its 4,247 students would be affected by the change, recommended last week in the governor's budget message to legislators.
"We rely heavily on this need-based grant to ensure that a Madonna education is accessible. We will continue to do everything in our power, and to work with the legislature, to maintain this need-based funding for our students," Sr. Kujawa added.
The Michigan Catholic Conference, public policy voice of all seven Michigan dioceses called the recommendation a matter of "major concern."
The program provides a $2,100 grant to needs-based students attending one of Michigan's 21 independent and private institutions of higher education, which includes several that operate in the Catholic tradition. The grant primarily benefits lower-income students who otherwise would be financially unable to attend the school, the MCC notes in its Feb. 12 Lansing update.
The Tuition Grant represents two percent of the state's higher education budget, although independent colleges enroll more than 25 percent of the state's four-year higher education population, according to the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Michigan.
The governor has recommended eliminating the grant in seven of her eight budget recommendations. Each year, however, the Legislature has reinstated the funding.
A spokesman for the University of Detroit Mercy said school officials would take a "wait and see" approach to the issue, and had no other comment at this time.
Cutting the tuition grant program was among the governor's recommendations for addressing the projected $1.7 Billion deficit in the state's 2010-11 budget.
Altogether, she recommended cutting some $570 million out of the state's general fund, raising another $550 million through a new statewide service tax, and relying on more than $700 million in federal funding.
|
