Governor Jennifer Granholm has recently pro­posed to cut the Tuition Incentive Program (TIP) rate, which is not good news for stu­dents like me.

TIP is a pro­gram that helps aid stu­dents with spe­cial cir­cum­stances and stu­dents from low-income house­holds with pay­ing for col­lege tuition. In Granholm’s 2010-11 bud­get plan, she wants to cut TIP’s cur­rent rate of $316 per credit hour to $84 per credit hour.

When I received an email from Ferris’ TIP coor­di­na­tor announc­ing this news, I imme­di­ately became, well, pissed.

First off, I worked very hard to get into Ferris. I was raised with very unsta­ble par­ents who didn’t give a hoot about edu­ca­tion, was placed in fos­ter care at age 17 and had to make up a num­ber of lost cred­its in order to grad­u­ate high school on time and get accepted to Ferris.

I’m not ask­ing for pity. I’m dis­cussing the fact that Michigan’s fund­ing for edu­ca­tion is being cut left and right. For exam­ple, take a look at the Michigan Promise Scholarship that was cut last fall. A friend of mine who went to another uni­ver­sity had to drop out due to the fact that the Promise Scholarship funded much of her tuition. She could no longer afford to go to a university.

If these cuts con­tinue, I’m not sure a major­ity of col­lege stu­dents will be able to afford a col­lege education.

My ques­tion: If the state of Michigan wants a bet­ter future, why are they propos­ing fund­ing cuts to higher education?

After speak­ing with a finan­cial coun­selor, I was told that if these cuts con­tinue, only stu­dents who are wealthy would be able to afford col­lege. Obtaining a degree is now cru­cial to find­ing a sta­ble job in our society.

I have a cou­ple of friends who are recip­i­ents of TIP as well, and they are just as appalled. Of course, there are loans, but who wants to have their inter­est rates racked up and have to pay off thou­sands of dol­lars for the next who-knows-how-many years after they graduate?

I am an “Independent” col­lege stu­dent; I do not rely on my par­ents’ incomes by any means. If state pro­grams that fund edu­ca­tion are cut, it is going to be inevitably dif­fi­cult, if not impos­si­ble, for stu­dents like me who rely on these pro­grams for help to afford college.

I was so aggra­vated that I am con­sid­er­ing writ­ing a let­ter to Gov. Granholm over this pro­posal. Besides the pro­posed TIP cut, there were many other pro­pos­als in the 2010-11 bud­get that irked me all the more as well.

As tuition rates rise, will any­one be able to afford col­lege in the future? Well, after wit­ness­ing how much fund­ing for edu­ca­tion is being elim­i­nated, I’m not going to hold my breath.

For now, I’m on the hunt for grants and schol­ar­ships. More loans are ahead in my future and other col­lege stu­dents as well. n