Action by college students across Michigan helps to re-instate fading Michigan Promise Scholarship.
Numerous facebook groups, blogs and Web sites organizing letter campaigns and even rallies on the capitol in Lansing has played a large role in getting the $140 million in Promise Dollars back on the proposed budget to be sent to Governor Granholm. Students did this. Students organized and moved on something they are passionate about.
I’ll say that again for emphasis. Students organized and moved on something they are passionate about. Not an interest group or the Michigan Education Association, though I’m sure they played some role in the events; the leaders were students. Organized on the web primarily, blogs and sites that united Spartans and Wolverines, Lakers and Eagles, Chipps and Bulldogs all acted on a mostly unified front as a force to affect change.
The result is the re-instatement of funding for the Michigan Promise Scholarships into the state budget, expected to be approved by Gov. Granholm by the end of the month.
This is a real, tangible result that will benefit some 96,000 students in Michigan, around 2,000 of whom attend Ferris State. This $140 million budget item is now back on the docket and it’s because of the effort of those individuals.
If this is possible with the Michigan Promise, imagine the action towards other programs or policies. Alternative energy could be within our grasp if the extremely active voting base of 18-24 year olds were to take that initiative under their collective wing.
This is the action that the body politic both fears and adores. The action that the founding fathers left voluntary, but is imperative in principle. Three cheers for the students who fought for the Michigan Promise. The future of Higher Education is grateful for your efforts.