Michigan Promise 2008-2009 Information
The Michigan Promise scholarship provides up to $4,000 to high school graduates for successfully completing two years of postsecondary education. All students who took the Michigan Merit Exam (MME) have the opportunity to receive up to $4,000 if they meet all eligibility requirements. Students who receive qualifying scores (Level 2 or above) in each of the required test components are eligible to receive up to half of their scholarship in the first two years of postsecondary enrollment (in installments of $1,000 each year).
To claim the Michigan Promise scholarship installment payment for use in the 2008-09 academic year, an eligible student must certify his/her scholarship by November 15, 2008. To claim up to a $2,000 final payment (for those who received installment payments), or to claim the full $4,000 for those who did not qualify for the installment payments, students should visit the Web site www.Michigan.gov/promise for an application form. Students are responsible for notifying the Office of Scholarships and Grants of a change in their college choice.
Students must initiate use of their scholarship within two years of high school graduation and all installment funds must be fully utilized within four years of initiation. Students in the class of 2008, who initiate their scholarship in the 2008-09 academic year, must utilize all installment funds by the end of the 2011-12 academic year. Students, who initiate their scholarship in the 2009-10 academic year, must utilize all installment funds by the end of the 2012-13 academic year. Students must submit their application for final payment no later than November 15 of the academic year following their last year of eligibility.
To be eligible for the scholarship, students must:
• Take the state assessment test1.
• Have not received a Merit Award under the Merit Award Act.
• Must certify his or her eligibility for a scholarship installment payment.
• Enroll at an approved Michigan postsecondary institution or a military service academy within two years
of becoming a high school graduate (two-year period would be extended for service in armed forces or
Peace Corps).
• Complete the postsecondary education requirements (associate degree, two-year certificate, vocational
education program2 or 50% of the academic requirements for a bachelor’s degree, which is 60 semester or
90 term credits) within four years of initial enrollment.
• Achieve a cumulative college GPA of 2.5 (for students completing vocational education programs that do
not record grades; proof of course completion is required).
• Be a high school graduate or have passed the GED or any other graduate equivalency exam approved by
the State Board of Education.
• Be a Michigan resident.
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History of the Michigan Promise Scholarship
As you’re probably aware, the Michigan Promise Scholarship was once called the Michigan Merit Scholarship. What most people don’t know is how and why the transition took place, and that a group of students from Central Michigan University (many of them Merit scholarship recipients) played an integral part.
While conducting a class exercise, the students split up into a mock state legislature and house of representatives to attempt to pass a bill that would improve the scholarship. Michigan legislatures caught wind of the class project and invited the students to present some of their ideas before the committee that was working on exactly that same issue at the time. The students did so, and many of their ideas were integrated into the existing framework that the committee had created for the Michigan Promise Scholarship.
As part of this change, the award amount was increased from $2500 to $4000. And as I’m sure everyone is also aware, there are still ties between the Michigan Promise Scholarship and the Michigan Lottery. So, interestingly enough, students who were furthering their education via the vehicle of the Merit scholarship used that education to change the award for the better.
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