LANSING, Mich. – Senator Glenn S. Anderson joined college students from around the state today for the “Storm the Capitol, Save the Promise” rally calling for the protection of the Michigan Promise scholarship program. The Michigan Promise scholarship provides up to $4,000 to qualified students to pursue a college education.

“These are the young, hardworking people we want to keep in our state and cutting scholarship funds and driving them into even more debt is not the way to do that,” said Sen. Anderson. “Clearly budget cuts have to be made, but we cannot move this state forward if we shortsightedly yank the rug out from underneath the very generation that will be tasked with rebuilding Michigan. This budget fight is about keeping our promise and protecting Michigan’s future.”

Currently, more than 96,000 Michigan students are relying on the Michigan Promise scholarship to attend college. The scholarship offers $4,000 to high school and college students who meet academic and testing requirements to pursue a higher education. In their budget proposal for 2009-2010, Senate Republicans cut $140 million in funding for the Michigan Promise Grants, completely eliminating the program that offers the scholarships.

Sen. Anderson has been and continues to be a major advocate for the protection of the Michigan Promise scholarship. He and his Senate Democratic colleagues sought to pass an amendment to the Higher Education budget passed in June that would have restored funding for the program. He has also spoken out on the Senate floor this week challenging the Senate to restore the Promise Grants. Videos of Sen. Anderson’s statements can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugSYrFkC0UA&feature=channel and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9lJgBJKUo0&feature=channel.

# # #