College students, Bridge cards and taxpayer savings

Amidst a continuing state budget crisis equaling billions in deficit, lawmakers have made a point to go after what they call “abuse and waste” in the Food Assistance Program.

Rep. Dave Agema (R-Grandville) told the Lansing State Journal the state is “wasting millions of dollars” providing access to the program for college and university students. Agema chairs the House subcommittee overseeing the budget for the state Department of Human Services.

The problem with this argument is that the food stamp program is funded by the federal government, not the state.

“Food assistance is fully federally funded,” says Gisgie Dávila Gendreau, marketing and public relations director for the Michigan Department of Human Services which oversees the program.

DHS’s Green Book, which details assistance spending in food, welfare and disability programs, shows that in December of 2010, 1,926,594 residents of the state qualified for food assistance. Those residents are represented by 967,944 cases for the department and the program paid out $260,733,267 in benefits. That averages out to be $135.33 per person covered by the program — significantly short of the $200 per college or university student opponents have claimed are spent on the program.

State officials say as many as 10,000 to 18,000 college or university students are current getting the benefits. Maura Corrigan, director of the state DHS, announced Wednesday the state would tighten program rules for eligibility for students.