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SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS MOSTLY PRESERVED IN U. BUDGET After the myriad of proposals and counterproposals to reconfigure, eliminate and cut several of the state's college financial aid programs, the 2005-06 budget largely keeps all of them intact. The budget for higher education and the state's 15 public universities, approved Thursday by a House-Senate conference committee, allocates $1.41 billion for university operations with increases to each school the same as has been reported (See Gongwer Michigan Report, September 13, 2005). Sen. Deborah Cherry (D-Burton) cast the lone vote against the bill. It also makes no changes in funding to Michigan State University's Agriculture Experiment Station and its Cooperative Extension Service. The Granholm administration had sought reductions of 10 percent and 23.4 percent, respectively. But the scholarship programs, which had been the subject of considerable debate, mostly would remain unchanged in SB 273. Governor Jennifer Granholm wanted to overhaul the King-Chavez-Parks program, which seeks to increase minority enrollment in post-secondary education, and the House called for eliminating the program altogether, but it will remain unchanged in 2005-06. Ms. Granholm called for eliminating the Tuition Grant program that provides scholarships to students at private colleges while the House passed a 2 percent cut. But the compromise version matches the Senate-passed cut of 4.9 percent. This reduction was the lone significant cut in this budget. The State Competitive Scholarships program also would see a cut, but as a result of a reduction in available federal funds. The House version of the bill eliminated funding for the Michigan Work Study, Part-Time Independent Student Program and Michigan Education Opportunity Grants. But those programs will be preserved with no cuts as Ms. Granholm and the Senate wanted. Ms. Cherry said she objected to the University of Michigan-Flint getting just a 0.1 percent increase in funding while Grand Valley State University, Oakland University and Saginaw Valley State University each get increases of about 7 percent. "I wanted to show the inequity that I think exists within the budget in terms of funding," she said, noting that those schools are mostly represented by Republicans. "I understand that, but I think it shouldn't be such a partisan basis." Greg Bird, spokesperson for the State Budget Office, said the administration's willingness to keep the Tuition Grant program and not change the King-Chavez-Parks program reflected a need for compromise. He said compromise also necessitated allowing substantial increases to some universities but not others. Mr. Bird said Ms. Granholm is particularly pleased that Northern Michigan and Wayne State universities - targeted by legislative Republicans for big cuts - will receive essentially no change in their funding. "The governor's main focal point was to ensure that some universities weren't getting cuts and taking those cuts and putting it toward increases for other universities," he said. Rep. Scott Hummel (R-DeWitt), chair of the House Appropriations Committee and the House chair of the conference committee, said Republicans were willing to relent on eliminating scholarship programs to obtain recognition of their proposed formula to allocate aid to universities. "Our priority was getting some sort of recognition for the work we did on the formula," he said. "We had to give up some things to get there." Overall, the budget contains $1.73 billion ($1.58 billion general fund). That's a 4.8 percent increase from the current year (0.7 percent increase general fund).