We will have a new Governor on January 1, 2019 and that means we will have new policy directions, including budgeting priorities next year. We will hear many of Governor Whitmer’s policy proposals in her first State of the State in January 2019 and in February 2019 her State Budget Address to the legislature which will reveal and discuss her budget proposals for all of state government.
We all remember Governor Snyder’s higher education budget cut of 15% in 2011 — as he attempted to balance the budget and deal with a large budget deficit. Some of that has been restored but by no means all of it.
I read a statistic (but have not verified it yet) that said Michigan state aid to public higher education has been cut 28% during the period of 2000-2017. We do know that in the 1970s state aid accounted for 70% of public universities budgets, while tuition accounted for 30% of the university revenue. In 2017 that is almost the direct opposite and that trend started decades ago . Also we know that over two-thirds of university graduates leave their campus with over $30,000 in student debt. That number goes even higher when we look at student debt by family income and issues like first generation students, Pell Grant recipients, etc., etc..
Finally we now see students dropping out of two year and four year colleges and universities because they just cannot afford the tuition, fees, books, rent, etc., etc.. Many of these young people need to work two jobs to just keep up with the basics of housing, food, medical, etc..
As a state we need to work to correct this situation. We need to assure that everyone has the opportunity to get vocational training, or a two year or four year college or university education without having huge debt load as they enter the full time job market. Lets work together to make this happen in a responsible and fair manner.