food stamp card
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State's new eligibility rules to save $75M; more students got aid than thought

Michigan has removed about 30,000 college students from its food stamp program - close to double the initial estimate - saving about $75 million a year, says Human Services Director Maura Corrigan.

Federal rules don't allow most college students to collect food stamps, but Michigan had created its own rules that made nearly all students eligible, said Brian Rooney, Corrigan's deputy director. As a result, the number of Michigan college students on this form of welfare made the state a national leader. For example, Michigan had 10 times the number of students on food stamps as either Illinois or California, Rooney said.

Cutting off the students is part of what Corrigan says is an effort to change the culture of the state's welfare department and slash tens of millions of dollars of waste, fraud and abuse.

"Maybe (students) could go get a part-time job - that's what I did," said Corrigan, a former justice of the Michigan Supreme Court who attended Detroit's Marygrove College and University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.


Comment: Considering the state of the US economy, and that of Detroit in particular, this is a rather rich statement.


"We want to encourage people to be self-sufficient, not to be dependent on the government," she said in an interview with The Detroit News.

But critics say state funding has shrunk and tuition has skyrocketed since Corrigan attended college in the late '60s and early '70s. They cite Michigan's still-battered economy and say the suffering the cuts will create won't be apparent until after cash-strapped students return to campuses this fall.

Corrigan, appointed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder in January to head the $6.9 billion Department of Human Services, has also ordered administrators to start looking at applicants' assets, not just their income. That move follows an uproar after it was revealed Leroy Fick of Auburn remained eligible for food stamps and continued using them after he won $2 million in the state lottery TV show Make Me Rich! in June 2010.

If cutting millionaires off food stamps is a no-brainer, some say cutting off most students is less clear cut.

Kayla Neff, a 19-year-old Spanish and computer science student at Central Michigan University who qualified for food stamps in September, said it's tough to find a job in Michigan, particularly for students with little experience.

Neff said she and her father share about $150 a month in grocery money from the program, which "made all the difference in the world," but her eligibility is now under review.

"Students should be focusing on their education, not whether or not they'll be able to eat dinner or whether they can manage to find a job and balance it on top of their studies," Neff said in a Friday email interview from Mount Pleasant.

CMU was singled out by Corrigan as having publicized students' eligibility for food stamps on the university's website. University spokesman Steven Smith said Friday he wanted to research the issue, but "I am confident no official CMU site would promote this kind of activity."

The number of students taken off food stamps was close to double the estimate of 10,000 to 18,000 before the policy change was implemented in April.

Under the federally funded program, college students generally aren't eligible, Rooney said. But Michigan had created an exception for those participating in a valid employment and training program. Employment training was defined as attending college, he said.

Corrigan said one large Michigan school, which she did not identify, had 3,500 students on the program.

Many see using food stamps while attending school as a scam, and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick described it in much that way in his new autobiography.

Kilpatrick, who was recently released from state prison after serving time for violating probation and awaits trial on federal corruption charges, revealed he used food stamps when he attended Florida A&M University in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At the time, his mother was a state representative and his father was a top Wayne County official.

"The food stamp game is an old hook-up in neighborhoods from Detroit to Tallahassee," Kilpatrick said in the book. "If you could get them, especially as a struggling college student, then you did."

Though still commonly known as food stamps, the state's Food Assistance Program now uses debit cards called Bridge Cards to provide assistance to eligible recipients.

Even after the recent removal of 30,000 college students from the food stamp program, close to 2 million Michigan residents - one in five - are on the program, Rooney said.

Not all college students have been kicked off food stamps. For instance, single moms who go to school can still be eligible, as can certain students who work at least 20 hours a week.

Still, critics say Corrigan's changes are too sweeping and each student's case should be examined on its merits.

Nate Smith-Tyge, director of the Michigan State University Student Food Bank, said the stereotypical profile of the middle-class freshman getting dropped off at the new dorm room by Mom and Dad no longer applies.

"A more nuanced approach would have been more humane," Smith-Tyge said. "This sort of carte blanche decision is going to adversely affect people who really needed it. At what cost does it eliminate some abuse?"

Corrigan also detailed steps she is taking to make sure big lottery winners can no longer get food stamps.

As part of its arrangement for federal funding, Michigan in 2000 opted to determine eligibility based only on income and not consider assets, partly because the program is easier to administer that way, Rooney said.

Starting Oct. 1, assets will also be considered in determining eligibility for new applicants, he said. The assets of existing food stamp recipients will also be examined as their cases are re-evaluated every six months.

"We're going to take a look at everyone in the system," he said.