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Report card: Michigan higher education is average

December 6, 2000

Students will not be alone in receiving grades this semester.

All 50 states have already been handed their marks for higher education.

For the first time, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education put both public and private universities nationwide to the test, and spent more than two years comparing them.

No state received straight As, and many were given low grades. Michigan was considered average, but the state’s colleges and universities ranked lowest, a C, in making tuition affordable for students. MSU charges undergraduates $169.75 per credit hour.

Some institutions, like the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, charge even more.

MSU also received a low grade, a C+, in relation to students completing their educational programs.

Not everyone found the study useful. MSU Trustee Dee Cook said she found the report card confusing.

“There was so little information in the press as to how they arrived at the letter grade they gave,” Cook said. “If they are not going to give Michigan the highest grade, I want to know why.”

Thad Nodine, the director of communication at the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, said the goal of the report card was to help improve the state of higher education in the future.

“The overall purpose is to help state leaders identify the strengths and weaknesses of higher education in their state,” said Nodine, who helped conduct the first annual study. “The main surprise was every state has room for improvement. This has never been documented before.”

Michigan scored higher in areas of college preparation and participation, receiving a B and a B+ respectively. Benefits of attending college in Michigan were above average, earning a B.

Glenn Stevens, the executive director of the Presidents Council for the State Universities of Michigan, said because the survey relied on existing databases, results may or may not be adequate.

He said the data the report failed to look at was Michigan’s public university funding - which has recently been equal or below the national average.

The national average for tuition increase this year was 4.4 percent. Michigan’s increased 3.8 percent.

“This shows that one of the most important relationships is the one with level of state appropriation and tuition,” Stevens said.

But he still conceded that the report card might have some value, saying “it raises issues we need to continue to talk about.”

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