Tagged: michigan state universities

The state of Michigan is facing a potential class action lawsuit over a student loan program.

Beginning in 2003, the Michigan Students First loan program offered college students an interest rate subsidy after their first 36 on-time loan payments, effectively reducing their interest rate to zero.

But in 2010, the subsidy was ended.

Attorney Jeff Hank says that left thousands of Michigan college students having to pay more in student loans than they had originally planned.

Part-time instructors at Eastern Michigan University are voting on whether to approve a tentative contract agreement between the union and the university. The agreement would raise the minimum salary and provide more job security and protections.

Zachary Jones is a lecturer in geography and geology at EMU. He says part-time instructors end up teaching at many different schools, and do not earn a decent living wage. Jones says this contract represents a change in attitude of how the university treats its part-time instructors, and he says it boils down to an issue of respect.