Monday, February 13, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
College Costs
Here is an interesting article about college costs from the Detroit News written by Mike Wilkinson.
DECEMBER 30, 2011 AT 3:02 PM
Michigan feels strain of college costs
Analysis shows tuition in state is among the nation's most expensive
Declining state aid and rising costs have made getting a top-notch education in Michigan among the most expensive in the country, gobbling up parents' savings and saddling graduates with tuition bills that typically are far higher than their peers across the country, according to a Detroit News analysis of national education statistics.
At the University of Michigan, one year's tuition is now equal to more than 26 percent of the state's median household income — more than double what it is in Florida. In 2010-11, U-M's in-state tuition and fees hit nearly $11,837, according to the National Center for Education Statistics; the University of Florida charged state residents $5,044, or just 11 percent of median household income.
Even though state and business leaders continue to preach the need for a highly skilled, well-educated work force to ensure Michigan adapts to a move away from manufacturing in the wake of the devastating recession, the impact of the economic downturn continues to resonate.
As other states poured billions more into their university systems over the last decade, Michigan was forced to cut $300 million.
The result was tuition bills whose growth far outstripped inflation. And it's not just at U-M, which is among the most selective public universities in the country. Both Michigan State and Michigan Tech are among the most expensive public schools in the United States.
"The route we're going is not sustainable," said Michael Boulus, executive director of the Presidents Council State Universities of Michigan, an advocacy group for the 15 public colleges and universities in the state.
A number of states — including Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, California and Florida — have highly selective schools. Among those, the Ann Arbor school's in-state tuition is nearly 20 percent higher.
It's not just Southern universities that are cheaper: The most selective big public schools in New York, Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin are all charging substantially lower tuition.
Fears over affordability prompted Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan, to write a letter recently to President Barack Obama. She lamented the cuts in state funding and the state's dismal higher education funding ranking (38th). Despite $235 million in cuts over the last eight years, UM has been forced to raise tuition. She called for a national conversation on higher education.
"To meet the myriad needs of students and society, we absolutely must find ways to provide a college education at a cost that is sustainable," she wrote.
It's an issue Coleman has addressed with state leaders as well. In her most recent budget letter to the state budget director, Coleman wrote that the state's future depends on higher education. "We are managing our resources strategically so that we can maintain the ability of the University to contribute to the vitality of our region, and the nation," she wrote. "The state's continued and expanded investment in our success is central to our collective future."
A goal of stability
Gov. Rick Snyder, who earned three degrees from the University of Michigan, has made education a priority. But he has been faced with an unrelenting budget that required "tough" cuts — including millions in higher ed — to reduce a $1.5 billion deficit.
His goal is to bring stability to the state's finances that will allow for "strategic" investments that reward success, spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said. Schools that kept tuition increases low got more money, for instance.
"Gov. Snyder absolutely believes that education — from early childhood through K-12 and onto career or higher education — is one of the longer term keys to reinventing Michigan's economy and positioning the state for success," Wurfel said. "But it's also simply not just about more money. It's about achieving the best outcomes and results possible."
Advocates fear the rising costs are putting the greatest pressure on middle-income and upper-middle income families who don't qualify for need-based aid. It's burdening families and graduates with debt that may have some questioning whether a college degree is worth it.
"People are stretching and borrowing just to get in," said Doug Rothwell, president and CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan, which works on policies to improve the state's economy.
Leaders at the University of California's Berkeley campus — one of the nation's best public schools — announced this month that it will spend more than $10 million a year, raised privately, to help families making as much as $140,000 a year who are unable to get need-based assistance.
Ray Kuczwara owns a shoe store in Marquette and his son, Russell, is a computer engineering sophomore at U-M. Russell, who participated in a recent rally in Ann Arbor protesting the high cost of tuition, qualified for substantial scholarships and will still graduate with more than $20,000 in debt.
Ray Kuczwara said people in Michigan have to realize that parks, roads and schools cost money and it may require more to maintain what the state has.
"I think you've got to pay for what's there if you want a good standard of living and good schools," he said. "It's not free."
Despite its higher cost, Michigan is blessed with a high-quality university network that competes with any state, Rothwell said. But "you risk eroding that … if you're not careful," he said.
Rising costs could lead to a dip in qualified graduates, or force the top students to chose based on price, not quality. For a state that needs thousands more college graduates as its economy shifts, neither option would help, Rothwell said.
"You're going to force more kids to go to other schools or out of state," he said.
Cuts continue
While state leaders continue to say how important higher education is to Michigan's future, they've been shackled by plummeting tax revenues that forced a seismic shift in how a public university education is funded: Once contributing 75 percent of university revenues, the state's share is now below one-quarter.
Meanwhile, Sun Belt and Western states are pouring millions into their education systems — even fellow Rust Belt states Wisconsin and Ohio are keeping costs lower at comparable universities.
For states offering lower-cost educations, the quality of their university systems are magnets for development. In North Carolina, poised to pass Michigan in population in the next decade, the University of North Carolina system is high quality and relatively low-cost. At its school in Chapel Hill, tuition in 2010-11 was still below $7,000 a year.
"It goes beyond the existing work force," North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue told a group of CEOs in April. "If you're going to invest hundreds of millions of dollars, or a billion dollars (on a new facility), you're looking for a long term, not a guarantee, but a commitment that you're going to have several generations' worth of really qualified workers."
It's a sentiment expressed countless times by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Snyder: The state needs to invest in education to produce workers who are attractive to employers. Yet the cuts have continued; the state slashed the higher ed budget by 15 percent this year.
"We've gone to shared sacrifice for about a decade," Boulus said. "It's time to move to shared commitment."
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