The Michigan Senate recently voted to cut the $140 million Michigan Promise Scholarship. Created in 2006, this tuition assistance program awards $4,000 to each student who achieves a proficient score on the Michigan Merit Exam. It also hands out another $4,000 to each student who fails to meet the MME proficiency level but maintains a 2.5 GPA in their first two years at a Michigan college.
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Thursday, July 2, 2009
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This was a good and timely subject to approach. Two key points cannot be stressed enough: brain drain and selection bias.
The brain drain issue was partially addressed in this piece. A study showing which students were leaving the state after college could provide some great insight into the problems (likely government interference in multiple markets) that are driving Michigan's youth to other locations.
As for the Promise Scholarships, for the most part, students who perform well on the MME are those who enjoy and are successful in school and were going to college anyway. Not that I think we should be dangling a $4000 carrot in front of anyone, but given the premise that we're going to... then let it benefit the marginal student and (since marginal students perform worse in college, typically) have them agree to repay the amount, should they fail/drop out of college. If they graduate, then we (as in the citizens of Michigan) benefit in the form of a skilled worker instead of the unskilled worker that would have been. Now, we just need to keep him/her here.
Welcome Mr. Van Beek. I look forward to seeing more of your great work in the future.
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