State Defends Removing College Students From Food Stamp Aid
LANSING (WWJ) - As the budget wound its way through the State Legislature, many departments and programs fell by the wayside because of revenue concerns. One of those involved the food stamp program and the cutting off of aid to 30,0000 college students.
WWJ's Rob Sanford reports the move will save $75 million in the budget and bring Michigan more in line with federal rules.
Brian Rooney of the Department of Human Services said because of a lack of money, they had no other choice.
"We do have more of a population on food assistance than the country at large. The bottom line is, we, in the past, could afford to be more generous with tax payer dollars, but no longer is that the case."
Currently, one in five state residents need food aid. Rooney said they wanted to focus on serving only what he called "the truly needy"
"Usually, it's the 40, 50, 60-year-olds that have families that are in a rough patch that we're trying to serve. And as a matter of public policy, when you look at, you know, a 17, 18, 19-year-old that has no family, we made the determination that those were not folks that were truly needy."
Single parent students working part-time jobs will still be able to get food stamps.
