Promise of scholarships was never eternal
Lost in the debate over whether Michigan should continue the $4,000 Michigan Promise scholarships is where the money comes from.
The scholarships are supposed to be funded by the state's share of the 1998 tobacco settlement, to total $8.5 billion over 25 years. The settlement funds were never intended to be part of the general fund tug-of-war.
But now the tobacco dollars have been absorbed into the general fund, creating another future headache for the state -- they'll have to be replaced somehow when the settlement payments end. The scholarship promise was never eternal. Had the state wanted to make a permanent investment in education, it would have placed the settlement dollars into an endowment that would have served to perpetually assist students.
Instead, they have enabled universities to gobble up the tobacco money by using the scholarships as an excuse to raise tuition.
The tobacco settlement will be squandered without making a difference in Michigan.
