This past week we saw in Michigan another university go above the legislatively imposed tuition cap. It gave up a million dollars in state aid for eight or ten times as much gained from a tuition increase. Lots of hand wringing by policy makers about what to do with this development and the hand wringing will get worse as more universities make this choice.
At the same time Michigan we have a legislator re-introducing legislation to allow community colleges to offer some four year degrees that have up to now been the exclusive of four year universities.
Over all of this of course is the issue of the cost of getting a two year and/or a four degree. The cost to the student is getting higher and higher and leaving students with more and more student loan debt.
The debate is important about tuition costs and student debt. The debate is important about loss of state aid to universities and the cost of offering a university curriculum, student services and construction of new campus buildings. The debate is important about what is the scope of education that should be provided at a community college and should community college tuition be free..
Maybe the discussion between the legislators and community college and university presidents should really be between college and university trustees who approve these tuition hikes, who approve the expanding programs, who approve new buildings, etc., etc.. Maybe they should be asked why and what they are doing? They are the policy makers in higher education and they approve all policies and procedures.
Maybe we need a discussion at a statewide level about higher education governance and cost.
Bridge magazine has an excellent overview of this issue in its recent edition. http://bridgemi.com/2015/07/turf-war-community-colleges-want-to-offer-more-4-year-degrees/