MichiganRadio

Granholm: Promise Scholarships on the Table LANSING, MI (MPRN) - Governor Granholm met today with legislative leaders to try and resolve disagreements over the next state budget.

The governor says one of her priorities is making sure the Michigan Promise college scholarship is not eliminated. It goes to all students who complete two years of college or job training after high school.

But Michigan has a budget deficit of $1.8 billion for the coming fiscal year. The governor says that number is so big that reducing the size of the four thousand dollar scholarship may be unavoidable.

"And so, there may have to be some percentage taken off the scholarship in order to make the budget balance," says Granholm, "but you don't want to destroy the purpose of the scholarship altogether, which is to make sure that families have access to the funds to send their kids to college."

The governor says she also wants to avoid laying off police officers and firefighters because that would threaten public safety.

Republican leaders say that will require her to come up with bigger cuts elsewhere if the state is going to forego tax increases. © Copyright 2012, MPRN