In a 4-2 vote today, a joint conference committee of the Michigan Legislature decided to cut funding for the Michigan Promise Scholarship program as a way to help trim the state’s projected 2.8 billion dollar deficit for next year.

Some 96,000 students in the state receive money from the scholarship, which was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm in 2006. The aid, which students attain by passing a certain mark on a merit examination given in high school, grants students between $500 to $4,000 in total over four years to help pay tuition.

University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said the Ann Arbor campus currently has 6,096 students eligible to receive the scholarship.

Liz Boyd, a spokeswoman for Granholm, said the governor considers the Michigan Promise Scholarship of the utmost importance and will continue to fight for its future.

“The governor is hoping to reach an agreement with lawmakers on a budget that protects her priorities and one of her top priorities is the Michigan Promise Scholarship,” Boyd said.

Boyd said the responsibility of coming up with a state budget that includes the governor’s top priorities rests on the legislature’s shoulders.

“It is the responsibility of the state House and Senate to put a budget on the governor’s desk that she will sign into law,” Boyd said.

If the state’s legislature isn’t able to reach a decision by the Oct. 1 deadline or pass a continuing resolution of last year’s budget, there will be a partial government shutdown similar to the one policymakers faced in 2007, which lasted four hours.

Though Boyd would not say whether the governor would reject a budget that didn't include the program, she said the administration would stand with those who continue to fight for it.

“We respect Rep. (Joan) Bauer (D–Lansing) for not supporting the recommendation to eliminate the Promise Scholarship and we will continue to fight to retain that scholarship,” Boyd said.

In a phone interview, Sen. Liz Brater (D–Ann Arbor) said she is against cutting the program.

“I’m opposed to those cuts,” Brater said. “We made a promise, and it’s very difficult for Michigan families to find the money to send their sons and daughters to college.”

Brater sponsored an amendment to a Senate bill earlier in the budget process to restore funding for the scholarship program, but it was rejected in a vote that followed party lines.

In an e-mail interview, Rep. Rebekah Warren (D–Ann Arbor) stressed the importance of the Michigan Promise.

“Investing in education is an investment in our future, and the Promise Scholarship continues to help thousands of families fulfill their dreams of a college education,” Warren wrote.

Warren wrote that now, more than ever, the program is needed and she would fight to maintain it.

“In these difficult economic times, we have an even greater responsibility to help our young people get the skills they need to compete for those good-paying jobs,” she wrote. “Cutting the Promise scholarship is completely counterproductive and unacceptable — I will continue to fight to save this vital program.”

Vice President for Government Relations Cynthia Wilbanks, who acts as a liaison between the University administration and Lansing, said she understands the difficult position legislators are in.

“This is really difficult, and I don’t think there were a lot of cheers in the room when this conference report was passed,” Wilbanks said. "But we all acknowledge there are really tough decisions that need to be made.”

Wilbanks said that she looks forward to seeing the higher education budget in the near future, and that legislators are currently working on it.