Harrison: Who will act for Michigan's 'lost scholars'?
What has become of almost 20,000 of Michigan's top high school scholars? Who are these lost scholars who all scored above average (22.4) on the college ACT exam and may have even achieved a perfect 36? Who are these academic high achievers such as valedictorians, salutatorians, class presidents, and top-ten students?
They are scholars who have chosen to study and make their careers out of state. They are scholars who are attending college in-state but without financial assistance from one of the state's most lucrative scholarship programs.
Probably unknown to parents, they are their hard-working, academic sons and daughters for whom they must pay up to an additional $6,500 for college tuition.
So how do we find these lost scholars to help ensure they attend college in Michigan and receive the financial assistance that they worked hard to earn?
Ask the Michigan Department of Treasury, which has removed almost 20,000 of the state's top high school scholars from the Michigan Competitive Scholarship Program. This program is designed by statute to be academically competitive, while considering financial need - as determined through the federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process.
But, for many years, Treasury has removed many of the state's best students from the program because of fiscal constraints.
Rather than raising the ACT score necessary to qualify for a scholarship on an academically competitive basis, Treasury decreases the FAFSA determined need to maintain the status quo - and make the program noncompetitive.
Our governor and legislative leaders have ignored this bureaucratic takeover of a $34.6 million state-funded program, which Treasury has devolved from being competitive to being a travesty.
Where else can a convicted felon with an average ACT score get an annual scholarship of $1,500 for five academic years? Where else can you maintain only a 2.0 grade-point average, yet continue to receive a "competitive" scholarship?
Where are the almost 20,000 Michigan families who have federally determined need, but do not receive merit/need-based scholarship funds for their high-achieving sons or daughters?
Where are the almost 60,000 parent/student voters who have unknowingly been robbed of merit/need-based scholarship funds by the governor and the Legislature?
And where are the thousands of other parent/student voters who have had their "competitive" scholarship award reduced?
Please, Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema and House Speaker Craig DeRoche, serve these fine constituents, the state's lost scholars and their families. Update the law and demand that Treasury run the Michigan Competitive Scholarship Program on a competitive basis.
Source: http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060709/OPINION02/607090578/1087/opinion
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