It seems university and state officials would rather spend time whining and pointing fingers than actually working together to find the best way to allocate limited funding sources.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has put higher education low on her budget priority list as she hopes to lead Michigan out of a $1.7-billion deficit. She says the state's public university could easily stand to be put on a financial diet.
But MSU officials say the nation's pioneer land-grant institution already is a "lean university."
As far as MSU trustees are concerned, they are right to tout the university's record of financial responsibility over most of the last decade.
MSU President M. Peter McPherson's economic expertise has helped greatly to turn the school into a cost-effective institution.
Still, that doesn't mean there isn't anywhere left for MSU to trim. It's just that those places might be more difficult to see.
At the same time, Granholm needs to recognize the importance of higher education as an investment in Michigan's future.
It is irresponsible for the governor to point to tuition dollars as an "escape valve" for universities to offset state funding decreases.
By forcing state universities to substantially increase the cost of higher education, more Michigan citizens will find themselves fiscally locked out of college.
Tuition increases are not "escape valves," especially for land-grant institutions such as MSU, which have a responsibility to provide an affordable education to Michigan residents.
Yes, MSU has a special place and mission among the state's higher education institutions. Yes, MSU has an outstanding history of fiscal responsibility. And yes, state officials should take note of those things.
But the reality is that they haven't, they don't and it's likely that they won't.
MSU officials need to bite the bullet and prove they can continue in a tradition they are so proud of.
It's no feat that the university could be fiscally responsible when economic times were good. It was expected.
And it still is expected while the economy is in a downturn. The time has come for the bright economic minds that lead this university to prove their worth.
Instead of crying that life isn't fair, MSU leaders need to suck it up and work harder to maintain the university's cost-efficient management.
In the same vein, Granholm and other state leaders need to stop passing the buck onto Michigan universities and work with the higher education institutions to remain relatively affordable to the public.
It's not as simple as saying, "If you rank them, college benefits fewer people than health care might," as Granholm told the Detroit Free Press.
The profits of both ventures are not quantifiable. But if one takes higher education out of the equation, there won't be anyone left behind to afford or provide health care.
Granholm should work with Michigan's future in mind, not just the present. That is, after all, what she said she would do during her State of the State address earlier this month.
