“The Legislature would just as soon privatize public higher education, leaving students footing the bill,” she said.

With higher education funding on the decline nationwide, Owen and the rest of the MSU Board of Trustees are left struggling to manage university operations while keeping tuition affordable to students, a task that has become more difficult in recent years.

As the board’s annual summer retreat approaches later this month, just weeks after the state budget was approved by the Legislature, the trustees will face yet another challenge as they try to find ways to fund the university without putting all of the burden on the shoulders of young Spartans.

Worth it
It is no secret that the cost of tuition has increased in the last decade. Just seven years ago, MSU’s tuition was nearly half of what it was in the 2011-12 academic year.

In 2004, tuition was $206.25 per credit hour. Last year, a credit was $406.75.

And no matter who is to blame for the increase in tuition costs, many students agree the cost has become unmanageable.

“I think as a whole, universities charge too much,” human biology senior Lindsey Young said. “I feel like (lack of state funds) makes it less accessible to people who do want higher education but have trouble funding it.”

Some members of the MSU Board of Trustees, who will determine tuition rates later this month, also are unhappy about the rising cost of earning a college degree.

Trustee Dianne Byrum said cuts to higher education funding are one of the biggest causes for the high price of credits.

“Tuition rates are directly connected to state support for higher education,” Byrum said. “Michigan, through the legislative budgeting process, continues to undervalue higher education.”

Michigan public universities primarily receive funding from three sources — donations and grants, tuition and state and federal funding — but government appropriations to public institutions have begun to slow.

And with only 3 percent of last year’s budget being redeemed in the next fiscal year in the higher education budget, the MSU Board of Trustees likely will raise tuition again to fill the financial void of previous cuts.

“MSU has increased its graduation rate to 77 percent, has a 91 percent (freshman) retention rate and continues to receive very favorable reviews from our students,” Byrum said. “However, you cannot continue to provide quality and value on thin air.”

Both Byrum and Owen said government funding of higher education is essential in preserving the quality of MSU while still keeping tuition rates reasonable.

Some legislators do not support the cuts to higher education that have caused tuition increases.
At the Senate session on Tuesday, when the higher education budget was being approved, state Sen. Morris Hood, D-Detroit, was among opponents of the budget.

“It barely keeps up with inflation and continues to shift the college degree onto the backs of students, who are burdened with soaring debt as they scramble to make up the difference,” Hood said.

Surplus shortage
Although the state had a total surplus of about $400 million this year, the state appropriated $36.2 million of that surplus toward higher education, which some legislators said is not a strong enough investment.

The $36.2 million funding increase is a 3 percent rise from last year, and it will be distributed to public universities based on a new scale that measures university performances in degree completions, critical skills, Pell Grant recipients and tuition restraint.

State Budget Director John Nixon said this method is used so that funding is not just distributed randomly but based on how well the university meets the criteria.

“We don’t like the peanut butter approach where you can just smear it across the system,” Nixon said.

Currently under the planned performance funding for next year, MSU is set to receive $3,408,000, granted it meets the requirements.

State Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker, R-Kalamazoo, said the performance funding guidelines will encourage universities to improve their academic programs through a best practice approach.

“It’s very important that when we look at a formula … that we rank our universities according to our national peers,” she said. “This makes it so students will win under this, with the high costs of tuition we’re seeing.”

MSU, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University ­— all high research institutions — are among the lower end of total funding percentage increases, all receiving less than a 1.6 percent increase. MSU is receiving about a 1.4 percent increase. Other state universities, such as Saginaw Valley State University, received as much as an 8.17 percent increase.

Owen said it is unfair to allocate less funding to research institutions than others, when they are training young people for careers.

“(The research institutions) are driving economic development for the state that educate the most Michigan students,” Owen said. “Their decision makes absolutely zero public policy sense.”

But MSU Trustee Melanie Foster has a different take on the funding increase, saying the small increase is a positive sign for MSU considering last year’s budget consisted of cuts.

Legislative jeopardy
MSU officials have continued to test legislators on the potential performance funding they will receive. MSU’s controversial health care mandate, implemented in fall 2011, requires students to have some form of health insurance, concerning some legislators who feel that the university is overreaching.

A portion of the performance funding guidelines state that universities cannot compel students to purchase health insurance, whether through the university or otherwise.

Owen, who feels the guidelines are unconstitutional, said public universities are supposed to be autonomous.

“The Legislature has no right to interfere with the decision to require health insurance,” Owen said. “The Legislature is playing politics; the university is taking action that it believes is important for student well-being.”

The health care policy first was introduced to the board at a work session in April 2010 as an informational item, and was first charged to students without existing health care coverage in winter 2012.

Some MSU officials, including Byrum, feel the policy is a strong security measure for students without insurance because for them, a trip to the hospital could be financially detrimental.

The board never formally approved the plan because the insurance policy was categorized as an admissions requirement, waiving the board’s opportunity to vote, university spokesperson Kent Cassella said.

From the time the plan first was introduced to the board, Owen said she was not aware of opposition to the plan. If any trustee had objected at the time of introduction, it would have come to the board for a formal vote, Owen said.

Foster does not support the policy and wishes she had the chance to vote.

“It adds to the cost of the college education, and I don’t believe in mandatory insurance,” Foster said. “It potentially jeopardizes our state funding.”

MSU has until the end of August to prove it is in compliance with all of the performance funding criteria, or some of their funding could be at stake.

Hold tight
Foster said despite some disagreements about policies, she is confident all board members agree on one thing: tuition should increase as little as possible.

“We all collectively have common goals to keep tuition costs in check,” she said.

Michigan’s shriveling higher education budget has made the board’s goal more difficult to achieve, as cuts have become the norm in the past decade.

Because the state’s appropriations to MSU have become less dependable, the board has had to look within the university to make up some of the funds.

“When you have a state appropriation that is negative 15 percent, zero and now 1.4 percent, MSU and our students are severely constrained,” she said.

Still, some students understand the difficulties in running a university in harsh economic times.
To Emma Darios, a biochemistry and molecular biology senior, the cost of tuition is just another factor in earning a modern college degree.

“I don’t think there is anyone to blame,” she said.

“I think that the university is just like a business. They face rising costs and expenses, so the product becomes more expensive.”