Public universities across the state of Michigan are struggling to stay afloat amid reports six of the state’s 15 public institutions having suffered double-digit enrollment drops over the last decade.
But none of those hard times are reflected in the higher education budget recently passed by the Republican-led state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
According to nonprofit news site Bridge, the 0.9 percent increase incorporated in the new budget is actually just more than half of the 1.75 percent rate of inflation. Operational funding, or the funds universities have direct control over in determining how they are utilized, is up just 0.5 percent.
Michigan Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
| Michigan.gov
Yet another example of the upside nature of things is demonstrated by what’s happening at Wayne State University, where the school is slated to receive less funding this year than it did almost a decade ago. Overall, the school serving 27,000 mostly minority and low-income students is pegged to get just a half-percent hike in state funding this year.
“And these are the good economic times,” Dan Hurley, CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities, which represents the state’s public universities, told Bridge. “What happens when there is another recession?”
With the number of high school graduates down and more and more younger people being drawn to a vibrant job market, there’s no wonder that these are challenging times for state universities, who in some ways have come to serve as their own worst enemy given their rising costs and failure to be as inclusive as they could be in the eyes of some critics.
Even Whitmer admits that something seems amiss.
The governor "recognizes that a 1 percent increase for public universities and community colleges is not the kind of investment we need to make,” spokeswoman Tiffany Brown told Bridge. “But she had to make tough decisions to keep our families and communities safe and to help Michiganders access critical services that they rely on every day.”
The impact is one that stands to be felt by all, as studies show fewer college grads typically mean lower incomes for residents of the state. Currently, Michigan ranks 31st in the country in the share of its population with a bachelor’s degree or higher and 33rd in median household income.
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