No food stamps for college students..

[butterfly77]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=news&cd=1&ved=0CCcQqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freep.com%2Farticle%2F20110213%2FOPINION01%2F102130474%2F1049%2FSPORTS01%2FComment-College-students-not-entitled-food-stamps%3Fodyssey%3Dnav%257Chead&rct=j&q=food%20stamps%20michigan&ei=pQ5YTbzIG4rdgQeQjKmqDQ&usg=AFQjCNFN6TBvJdESV1O_Se7zCwFofkt6WQ&cad=rj


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybECGbTuK6M

The Food Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, serves nearly 2 million Michigan residents, including more than 805,000 children. DHS administers this federally funded program and must follow federal eligibility guidelines. Benefits are determined based on income, household size and other criteria, and are restricted to purchasing food.

Under those guidelines, college students are not entitled to qualify, with few exceptions.

Gov. Rick Snyder and I place a very high value on improving the integrity of the state's public assistance programs to ensure that taxpayer funds -- whether state or federal -- are used only for those truly in need.

That is why DHS requested, and received, federal approva

[PDJane]

1. Why not? College students don't need to eat?y

By the way, the amounts of those food stamps are outrageously low per month in the first place. It's just incredibly short sighted....

[butterfly77]

10. And they don't give a damn..

but they will pretty soon,keep it up teabaggers you may get more than you bargained for,mandate my ass!

I will bet you a lot of those teabaggers are now shaking in their drawers because they thought they voted for less spending if it doesn't effect them..

[dkf]

2. If they are dependents then I imagine it is based on their parents earnings

But if not, they should qualify if they don't have much income.

[SoCalDem]

3. The problem is that many students have one foot in each "camp"

They may need to "use" their family's financial status in order to even qualify for some student aid so they can even GO to college. Once they have the aid, it goes to the school for their education. Unless they have a full scholarship, housing & food are unlikely to be covered.

Since they are 99.9999% likely to be over 18, they are also a quasi-adult, and since most are also able-bodied, they would probably not "qualify" for a food stamp program/financial aid program. The rub is that if they are a full time student, with wages as low as they are these days, it's nearly IMPOSSIBLE for them to earn enough to pay rent and buy food, AND remain a good student at college. If their family is low-income enough to qualify for student aid for the learning part, but the money is not enough to LIVE ON, they are in a big ole Catch 22.

If they are lucky enough to go to school near where their family lives, many never even leave home, but for the ones who go to a school far from home, they may have only enough to pay for school, but not enough to also live on.:(

[dkf]

4. The issue is if you are claimed as a dependent for tax purposes

That would mean parents have to provide, not the government. If they aren't providing for the necessities then they can't get the tax breaks.

[SoCalDem]

5. Exactly.. and if the parents cannot afford to send money

the students are caught in the middle..

All my mother was able to send me every month , was $50...of course it was 1968, and I DID have a full ride scholarship & 2 grants, so I did not really "need" the money, but even then if I had been an ordinary (non-scholarship) student, I would have been in a world of hurt.

[tinkerbell41]

17. Yes and get this crazy shit

Financial Aid/ Dependent: Have to include parents income
Unemployment Benefits: Over 18? Not a dependent.
I am living this now. I've worked 6 mos since my kid started school she is a Junior.
Grandparents send food money every month.

[ThomCat]

18. Every bureacracy will write their rules so to your detriment.

Which ever way will be least convenient for you, cost you the most money or cost them the least money, that's the option they will choose.

So if it is good for you for your kid to be your dependent, the won't let your kid count as a dependent.

But if it is good for them and bad for you to have your kid still count as a dependent, then the kid is still a dependent.

[michreject]

21. That's the way I read it

Give it to those who truly need it.

[rucky]

6. Because the rulemaking class can afford to support their kids

while they're in college. They just can't imagine a student being "truly in need" eh?

[End Of The Road]

7. There's a larger issue here

In fact, is there any issue at all? How widespread was the abuse of the food stamp program by students? The article provides no info on how much this was costing the state.

I've got to wonder if this is just typical republican BS.

[butterfly77]

8. It is like usual..

I read a lot of articles with rightwing nuts on the subject.

[SoCalDem]

9. They magnify the small and cover up the huge..

Of course it's a ruse.. If they found ONE student "abusing" the program, a "paper" will be generated by a think tank about the WIDESPREAD abuse of it.

[QC]

11. I have a friend who had to drop out of college to keep his food stamps.

He hated to do it, but eating now trumps a future degree. He had no choice.

[MineralMan]

12. For a lot of families, including two of my wife's cousins' families,

The college deal has changed dramatically. Both have kids starting college next fall. Both students are attending a state college near their home and living at home. There was no option, really. I talked to one, a young woman. She's quite OK with the arrangement, even though she was accepted at several other colleges. She understands the situation and will, no doubt, make the best of it. Last time I talked with her, she said that it didn't really matter, and that the quality of her education depended on her, not the school. Bright kid.

It sort of reminds me of my college choices back in 1963 when I graduated. My parents simply could not afford for me to go to Cal Tech, where I was accepted and even had a partial scholarship. Instead, I went to a state college. I still got the education I needed, and didn't bankrupt my parents. Sometimes, adjustments are necessary.

[CreekDog]

20. But the adjustment left you with a college education

others less well off than you were got adjusted out of a college education.

i think it's amoral to accept that others cannot have what you were *given*.

there are lots of ways to "not accept" it, the first is to not suggest that the arrangement is acceptable to you.

:hi:

[bvar22]

23. I'll bet you graduated "Debt Free" too.

Where is the "adjustment" for that today?:shrug:

In the 60s and 70s,
anyone could attend the State University and graduate DEBT FREE
if willing to work a part-time job, or had help from their parents.
THAT was the NORM, not the exception.

We could have that again,
IF we had a political party that represented the Working Class & The Poor.
We don't.

Like Health Care, Education has morphed into a For Profit SCAM in the USA.
Brought to you by the Republicans, and their friends, the "Centrist" Democrats.




"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans."
---Paul Wellstone


"By their works you will know them."

[seabeyond]

27. that is how we are looking at it in our house. my son has the grades and sat scores

to get him into universities all over the country. he wants to go out of state. we discussed it and the saving going in state is so great, there really isnt a choice. i could pay. i am not going to. the education at more than half the cost is fine in state.

[bvar22]

13. Good way to keep the peasants out of the Universities.

Higher Education used to be the province of the idle RICH ONLY!
Besides, how much education do you need to say, Yes, Master."

New & Improved Gilded Age 2.0...here we come again,
brought to you by the Republicans and their allies, the "Centrist" Democrats.

The Top One Percenters lived very well during the last Gilded Age.


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."
---Paul Wellstone


"By their works you will know them."

[butterfly77]

16. They blame you for...

not wanting to work and then when you go look for work,they do everything to make sure you can't. Where in the hell are the jobs republiCONS?

[Puregonzo1188]

14. Yep, I have a friend whose currently on an extended leave of absence from college (and on food

stamps) and he told me the same thing.

[iris27]

15. This has been true for a long time.

Mr. Iris and I put ourselves through college with work and loans because our parents couldn't afford to help at all. It was very tight, and financially we would've qualified for food stamps if not for this rule.

But this didn't piss me off as much as the FAFSA requiring us to include our parents incomes when applying for aid, even though they would not (could not) be contributing financially at all. Even if you are not claimed as a dependent, you must include parental income unless you are over 24, married, or an orphan. Ridiculous. We would've been able to afford more food than Ramen and Chef Boyardee if not for that. And we wouldn't now be paying more each month for our student loans than for any other bill but our mortgage.

[libmom74]

19. combine that

with the cuts to Pell grants and we'll have even fewer kids who can afford to go to college.

[Obamanaut]

22. Are these students being claimed as dependents by their parents, who

would likely get a tuition tax credit on their fed income tax.

If dependents, they are not their own household, and are likely not eligible to make a claim for themselves

If they are in fact dependents, they could be fed by their parents or get a job. I know of several college students who work and attend classes.

[AlabamaLibrul]

26. They could be fed by their parents: or get a job!

Very free-market, pull yourself up by your bootstraps (which you've been chewing on for the last three weeks since you can't afford any food) ideology.

[butterfly77]

24. ...

[blindpig]

25. Of course.

Only the class qualified need apply.