2 Monday, July 27, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com PROTEST From Page 1 approximately $140 million to 96,000 students across the state. The bill also eliminates nearly $56 million in need-based financial aid. Last Wednesday, Republicans in theHouseofRepresentativesformed a different set of bills in an attempt to avoid using stimulus funds to reduce the state's deficit. The plan would keep the Michigan Promise Scholarship but would eradicate other scholarship and financial aid programs such as work-study programs and the Michigan Com- petitive Scholarships - which are awarded to students based on merit, financial need and ACT scores. MSA President Abhishek Mahan- ti spoke to the crowd and discussed how the combination of increasing tuition rates and decreasing finan- cial aid negatively impacts all fami- lies, including his own. He said that his family has to pay tuition bills for him and his brother, who will be an incoming freshman at the Univer- sity this fall. "Even with the in-state rates in Ann Arbor, these costs have been difficult to handle, and like most families, we're trying to make it all fit together," Mahanti said. He added that the proposed cut of the Michigan Promise Scholar- ship is disturbing, and would break a promise made to tens of thou- sands of students who each count on receiving as much as $4,000 in aid. "It financially awarded high aca- demic performance and provided relief for families like mine that don't qualify for financial aid but are still felng this ni-ch" Maan+ti sad Mary Clark, chief of staff for Rep. Joan Bauer (D-Lansing), attended the protest and agreed with the student speakers. She said the gov- ernment should honor the promise grants because they act as incen- tives to increase the number of col- lege graduates in the state. "We believe that at this criti- cal time in Michigan's history it is counterproductive to cut the area that is critical to our state's econom- ic recovery," Clark said. "We know that the prosperity of our state and our citizens is directly connected to the number of college graduates that we have in our state." Susan Schmidt, chief of staff for Rep. Mark Meadows (D-East Lan- sing), said she and Meadows also support continuing funding for the scholarship. "These scholarshipshelpfamilies afford the ever-increasing tuition, and as a mother of two college stu- dents who go to U of M ... we are feel- ing a direct effect by these potential decisions," said Schmidt, addressing the group of students from the capi- tol steps. Mahanti said students attend- ing college are Michigan's greatest assets becausethey arethe ones who will lead the state in the future. "Legislatures must realize that investing in our students through education isn't just important - it's imperative," he said. "Education needs to be accessible to prospective scholars in the state of Michigan, and by going beyond higher educa- tion by encouraging entrepreneur- ship and developing new businesses within the state, we beginto reverse this brain drain that plagues our nation and our state." While Thursday's protest served ersa-Williams, '07 ARItL BOND/C MSA Prosident Ahhishek Mahanti syeaks tooa Channel 6 reyorter at the protest. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com JAMIE BLOCK DAN NEWMAN Editor in Chief Business Manager 734-647-3336 734-764-0558 jambock@umich.edu tmdbusiness@gmail.com CONTACT INFORMATION Newsroom Officehours: News Tips news@michigandaily.com Corrections corrections@michigandaily.com LetterstotheEditor tothedaily@michigandaily.com Photodepartment photo@michigandaily.com Arts Section artspage@michigandaiycom 734-763-0379 Editorial Page opinion@michigandaily com Sports Section sportsemichigandaiy.com Sales daiydisplay@gmaicom 734n764-0554 Cassified Sales dailycassitedegma ~om Finance tmdfinance@gmail.com 734-763-3246 as an opportunity for legislators to hear students' concerns, MSA and ASMSU will be working together in the coming weeks to take further action on the issues of statewide tuition hikes and Promise Scholar- ship funding. ASMSU has posted petitions on Facebook and Twitter for all Michigan students to sign, and leaders from both organizations will be calling and visiting local rep- resentatives, urging them to main- tain higher education funding. Ambreen Sayed, MSA chief of staff, said she attended the event to make the state aware that because of the current economic situation the government's greatest invest- ment should be in higher education. "When better to start investing in the best and the brightest than right now?" she said. She added she came to show sup- port for continuing the Promise Scholarship and making sure the state keeps on funding Michigan's world-renowned institutions. LSA senior Brady Smith went to the- evebeause he .istfee with the legislature's decision to revoke its promise made to students in Michigan. He said retracting the scholar- ships and financial aid will cause students to attend school elsewhere and not return to Michigan during a time when the state needs people to stay more than ever because of the economic problems associated with the automotive industries. "Some of these manufacturing jobs aren't coming back, but they can be replaced with vocational and technical training, and the fact that we're preventing people from pur- suing that is a big problem," Smith said. He added that public education existed about 20years before Michi- gan even became a state, considering that the University was established in 1817 and Michigan became a state in 1837. "This state has long been com- mitted to excellent higher educa- tion, and it's a sad day in this state when we see that scaled back," Smirthsad- EDITORIAL STAFF Robert Soave rso"ve*"mich "d ManagingEditor Tara Zade ManagingNews Ediore lmzade~umic.edu ASSOCIAEEDITORSSehaie Steinerg, Jam.inZhu Rachel VanlGilder EdiorialPaenEdior Rtyan Kartje Maaig Sports ditor rkre~um~ich5edu. ASSOCIATEEeTO:Chanl Jennigs David Riva Managing~s Editor Max Collins macsufly@umich.edu Managing Photo Editor Sara Boholtz and StephanietFarr Managing Design Editors boboltzs@umich.edu and smfarr@umich.edu Lauren Schmandt Managing Multimedia Editor lachelse@umich.edu BUSINESSSTAFF Katietlozwiak SalesManager Kayla Lafata Classified Manager Meryl Hulteng Layout Manager Ben English Production Manager The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. 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