Thursday October 29 at 8pm we'll be meeting in the UC Lake Huron Room for a General Meeting. It will be a very exciting meeting! I (Brad O'Donnell) will be giving a brief presentation on why the College Dems (desperately) need to have a Constitutional Convention. Also, we have special elections for both Isabella County Democratic Party Liaison and for Webmaster. In order to vote you have to have come to at least one previous General Meeting.

 As of this writing, here are our candidates:

 ICDP Liaison:

Colleen McNeely

Holly Wencel

Webmaster:

Adam Federspiel

Nominations are open until election day right before we start voting! Email me or text me or call me or whatever to indictate your interest and I'll add you to the slate. 

BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU

A House and Senate conference committee has voted to eliminate the Michigan Promise tuition grant for 96,000 college students this year as part of a new state budget for universities.

The budget also trims another $60 million in financial aid in a plan on which the conference committee chair voted no.

Rep. Joan Bauer, D-Lansing, objected to the elimination of the Promise grant and other cuts, saying it would rank Michigan down with Mississippi and Puerto Rico in its financial support for college students.

“We made a promise to students. Ninety-six thousand of them got letters,” Bauer said, referring to letters the students received earlier this year acknowledging they would receive up to $1,000 for tuition this school year.

The committee voted 4-2 on the $1.6-billion spending plan for the state’s 15 public universities. One other Democrat Sen.James Barcia, D-Bay City, also voted no.

Rep. George Cushingberry, D-Detroit, voted for the conference report. Cushingberry said without money to pay for the scholarships – the state faces a $2.8-billion deficit next year – it would be irresponsible to vote for them.

The budget now goes to the full House and Senate, where it is certain to meet objections from other Democrats.

The Promise grant has been among the most contentious items as lawmakers struggle to cut programs to balance the budget next year.

Another conference committee is poised to approve a funding plan for public schools that would effectively reduce state aid by $218 per pupil. However, the budget would give schools more flexibility to spend the state money they receive.

Source: http://www.freep.com/article/20090923/NEWS15/90923034/1319/State-panel-votes-to-break-Promise-grant-for-students

Tuition aid program being targeted for elimination in state budget negotiations by Senate Republicans

LANSING — With the shot clock running on a final budget, state lawmakers joined Michigan college students at the State Capitol on Tuesday to demand that legislators protect the Michigan Promise Scholarship.

“Why call it a promise if it’s not a promise?” asked Rep. Mark Meadows, a Democrat from East Lansing.

“A promise is a promise,” said Barb Byrum, a Democratic representative from Onondaga. “Hold us accountable.”

The Promise Scholarship was signed into law in 2006 by Gov. Jennifer Granholm and it assures young people who graduate from high school and have done well on standardized tests up to $4,000 in college tuition assistance. That money is generally doled out in $500 increments.

But some lawmakers, lead by Senate Republicans, want to eliminate the scholarship because they say it is too costly for a state facing a budget gap in the billions. A bill passed the Republican-controlled Senate earlier this year which eliminated the scholarships completely, but the Democratic-controlled House has not taken up the issue.

“As both the House and Senate continue their negotiations, some members in both chambers are looking to balance the budget by killing the dream of college for students,” said Mitchell Rivard, president of the Michigan State University College Democrats. “We are here on the steps of the Capitol with one message to these lawmakers — you cannot go back on your promise.”

Rivard and about 50 other students delivered more than 2,500 signatures to House Speaker Andy Dillon and Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop. The signatures were on petitions demanding lawmakers keep the scholarship. The signatures were collected at the University of Michigan, Saginaw Valley State University, Central Michigan University, Western Michigan University, Albion College, Lansing Community College, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, Northern Michigan University and Lake Superior State University.

“Any legislator that supports cutting the Michigan Promise Scholarship will certainly hear from the 96,000 people who got the scholarship in the next election,” said Brad O’Donnell, president of the Central Michigan University College Democrats. “It’s a promise we are making and a promise we intend on keeping,” said O’Donnell, a beneficiary of the scholarship.

“These are Promise grants, not ‘we’ll get you the money if we have it’ grants,” said Senate Democratic Leader Mike Prusi of Ipsheming. “Nearly 100,000 students are watching to see if we mean what we say as lawmakers, and it would be unconscionable to break the promise we’ve made to them. As we try to attract jobs to Michigan and have a highly-skilled workforce, investing in education should be at the top of our list of priorities.”

State Rep. Joan Bauer, a Democrat from Lansing, said she will not vote in favor of any budget deal that eliminated the scholarship. No Republican lawmakers were present for the rally.

Lawmakers have until Sept. 30 at 12:59 p.m. to come up with a balanced budget, or the state government will shut down, which happened in 2007 as part of the budget battle that year.

Source: http://michiganmessenger.com/26679/state-lawmakers-students-rally-to-save-college-scholarships

On Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 a few members of the College Democrats at CMU went to Lansing with MSU Dems,  other College Democrats chapters, and elected representatives to "Storm the Capitol - KEEP THE PROMISE!"   We rallied together outside and on the steps of the capitol building to speak about how this money was needed and that a promise should not be broken!   We then stormed into the capitol with petitions from other College Dems chapters and CMU's Keep the Promise Cards which were signed by the students at CMU.  -More later.

College Democrats at Central Michigan University 

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