Students Scholarship into Tax Credit

Funding for the Michigan Promise program was eliminated for the current fiscal year because of the state's budget problems. That left 96,000 college students without a portion of the $4,000 scholarship they counted on to help pay this year's tuition bills.

The new plan, if approved by the Legislature, would cover the same students and future qualifiers only after they graduate from college and work in Michigan, at least part-time, for a year. The award would come in the form of a $4,000 refundable income tax credit.

The new, delayed grant format isn't likely to satisfy students who need the money now and had already qualified for it by doing well on standardized tests in high school.

"I think it's important they make well on the promise to those 96,000 students," said Ben Lazarus, a Central Michigan University student who has started a campaign to have the original scholarship plan reinstated.

Republicans are skeptical of Granholm's budget in general because it relies in part on tax increases, including an expansion of a slightly lowered state sales tax rate to cover many services. But some Republicans support the idea of using an income tax credit to reimburse students who aren't getting the money they had already earned through the Promise grant.