Wayne State stiffs students Meanwhile, U of M, MSU plan to make adjustments after Promise Grant cut By Corinne Lyons Staff Writer Published: Monday, December 7, 2009 Updated: Monday, December 7, 2009 23:12
With a little over a month left of the semester, I received chilling news from my mother: I had received a tuition bill. It was a letter that stated I would have to pay back a thousand dollars to Wayne State. I thought it was a joke until my mother told me that I received a bill. I'm not even sure that Wayne State sends out bills at the start of the school year. I was shocked and, more importantly, hurt. I am a Michigan Promise scholar, and like many of my fellow scholars, I sat anxiously while Michigan tried to pass a state budget. Cutting the funding for the Michigan Promise wasn't my problem, I thought. But by the beginning of the school year, I had been lied to. Michigan had made a pact with me: pass the tests; receive help with school. I did my part. But three years later, they were backing out. I did my research, and I found out that Michigan State University is using federal stimulus funds to replace the scholarship for the fall semester to all students. They also plan to replace scholarships for need-based students during the winter semester. There are about 8,000 Michigan State students who received the scholarship in the fall. I was surprised to learn, after calling the University of Michigan and getting directed to a jargonfilled newsletter, much like the letter I received, that those students were being asked to repay the money as well. The only difference from WSU is that U of M gives their students options. If you attend U of M, and you received the Michigan's Promise, you have a chance to take out a loan that you declined earlier in the year, believing that you had a scholarship. Wayne State has failed me. Instead of giving me options, they tell me to pay it back. Instead of