Michigan Cracks Down On College Students Using Food Stamps

Starting in April, most college students will no longer be able to use food stamps in Michigan, reports the Michigan Messenger.

The decision comes after weeks of controversy surrounding the alleged use of food assistance programs by students without financial need. Chair of the Michigan Department of Human Services subcommittee which oversees budget Dave Agema has made the issue a priority, calling student usage of the services "an epidemic."

In a statement, DHS Director Maura Corrigan said that some students will still be eligible for the program. "We're ready to extend a helping hand to any citizen who is truly in need - including college students who care for young children and are taking the right steps toward becoming self-sufficient," she said. "But those who don't meet federal guidelines won't be able to take advantage of what is meant to be a temporary safety net program."

What do you think of this decision? Share your opinion in the comments section.

Comments

[MikeyJaii]

07:41 PM on 02/16/2011

College is a ripoff, and sucks the money out of everyone's pocket.

[Prometeo]

06:07 PM on 02/15/2011

This is what happens when a few guys start misusing their opportunity to receive help for studies, the rest get caught in the government's dragnet.

[rabble rabble rabble]

12:41 PM on 02/15/2011

About time! I spent my whole life in Michigan until moving away last year for grad school, and it's about time someone caught onto how college students scam their way into Bridge Cards. I went to MSU and it was a huge problem there - lots of people I knew applied for the card (you can do it online and it's not called "food stamps" so that's super cool, right?) and then told others about it. There was no negative social stigma attached to it at all. They'd use their cards to buy pretty much anything but alcohol (talk to any QD or Meijer employee, they'll have a million stories about these kids) because they thought it was a government program designed specifically for that. From everyone I've talked to, they think it's just a program that simply hands out $250 a month to UNEMPLOYED college students, REGARDLESS of how much money they get from their parents, which sadly, it was. This money deserves to go to people who genuinely need it and obviously that will include some college students. But hopefully not the ones who can afford sorority dues, tanning packages, and to weekend trips to Chicago (but somehow not groceries).

[Milstar]

12:14 AM on 02/15/2011

Is this not discriminatory? If their income falls within the guidelines they should be able to get assistance. The problem isn't that the need isn't there it's that there has always been a stigma attached to until recently so many didn't apply when they should have.

[OldOneEye1]

02:26 PM on 02/14/2011

Michigan is nearly broke and the students aren't going to be the last on the list of programs cut.

[lessthansign3]

11:17 PM on 02/13/2011

My boyfriend is in college, and we were on food stamps until recently (they expired because of some weird paperwork issues we need to fix with the county), and will be on them again soon. We are on them because although I get some help from my parents, he can't depend on his because his parents are poor, too. He did it to take some of the burden off of his family, since they've got enough of their own problems without having to worry about feeding him, too. He's a full time student and works 30 hours a week at an $8/hr. student job. How is he supposed to afford rent, food, and utilities, in Minneapolis no less, on that?

Something's strange about this. Here, they had no problem with him being a student. They just wanted to know his income, how much he paid for rent, stuff like that. Hm, weird.

[njgal4obama]

09:32 PM on 02/13/2011

Let 'em eat Ramen noodles.

[Isthisalreadyinuse]

01:58 AM on 02/13/2011

By the way, the headline should read Michigan cracks down on student food stamp fraud.

[Isthisalreadyinuse]

01:41 AM on 02/13/2011

Although it is a federal program, states determine eligibility against federal rules. Apparently Mi made it easy to apply through the Internet and bridge cards were given out with little or no validation of eligibility. That should end. Students and others that can prove they are qualified should continue to receive food stamps as the program is intended, with no special consideration for students or any other group, unless the state wants to add a special program and state...not federal...taxpayers want to pay for it.

[sunflwer1975]

01:11 AM on 02/14/2011

i was a college student in Michigan, their health care program was just ER visits and a $25 co-pay. I will never pay those co-pays I owe since I had NO INCOME, still don't now since I take care of my disabled mother.

[DevonTexas]

08:54 PM on 02/12/2011

"But those who don't meet federal guidelines won't be able to take advantage of what is meant to be a temporary safety net program."

How silly. If they meet the federal guidelines for a federal program, why does the state think they can get involved because they are college students?! They aren't wards of the state. Many students get food stamps because, if they didn't, they wouldn't be able to eat after paying the cost of housing, tuition, books, etc.

[angryoldman]

01:07 AM on 02/12/2011

America is now strictly "dog eat dog". People are being thrown on the trash heap of society with little hope of ever clawing their way back up to their feet. I for one can not blame anyone these days for trying to stay alive any way they can even if this means bending the rules a little bit. Why are big oil, big pharma, big banks, big agriculture , big military industrial corporations etc., etc., subsidized but ordinary citizens are left to fend for themselves in this dismal DEPRESSION where everyone who is not in the top 1% club is basically skrued. Yea, lets let them eat cake.

[Chyna Doll]

01:44 PM on 02/11/2011

I once knew this woman who had 3 kids and no job when her food stamps would come in she would trade them for crack and then they wouldnt have any food. I would rather the college student who is trying to better themeselves get the food stamps rather than the crack head with 3 kids

[DevonTexas]

08:55 PM on 02/12/2011

well that's a perfectly good justification for ending the whole program! /snark

[sabelmouse]

07:51 AM on 02/14/2011

i am sure that's what they're all like.

[Maciej Chmielewski]

10:52 AM on 02/11/2011

it seems that the student population in this country is neglected over and over, there is no consideration for the 'student' in any of government discourses and it seems that we are the first ones to get put on the chopping block whenever budgets need to be cut. I understand that there are many students that take advantage of this system, as well as many other individuals who are not in the student category. But speaking from experience and from what I have seen in the past 6 years of my own education, there are many students out there who need the help, and I believe that an individual trying to get an education is far more in need than a 'family' that has a mother and father that don't know the meaning of birth control. It is time that we started to care for the student bodies of this country, we are too indebted within the educational sector
and we are already seeing the signs of the 'sallie mae generation' looking for a way out.

[hamlin43]

03:15 PM on 03/22/2011

Hear, hear!

[troyrobertdavid]

09:50 AM on 02/11/2011

People that take advantage of, and abuse the system, taking whatever they can get even if they don’t need it, I believe is one of the biggest problems with the American economy. I could only stagger to imagine how much better off the country would be financially if people only took what they NEEDED.

[DevonTexas]

08:56 PM on 02/12/2011

not just people but corporations too!

[AmigaMan]

12:15 AM on 02/11/2011

This makes me so angry. I am a full-time university student. I also worked full-time as a licensed substitute teacher at the high school level. That is, until I was misdiagnosed for months after catching H1N1 from one of four students. I made the grand total of $1700 last year, since I was unable to work much after the beginning of March, because of my illness eventually developing into full blown pneumonia. I had to be hospitalized for 12 days.

Now, I am on oxygen therapy. I may not even be able to return to work at least until next August. My wife applied for food stamps for us, and we were denied because I was not working full-time. WTF??? No kidding. I almost died in May.

We need help and cannot even get it.