Gov. Jennifer Granholm said what everyone was expecting to hear - higher-education funding is not safe from the chopping block.
The $5-million budget cut will force MSU to become more creative in tightening its belt. But in return, the university needs legislators' support in whatever fix-ups need to take place.
State Rep. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, said, "It is appropriate for the university to look for savings any way they can." But she countered that comment with, "Tuition should be the last consideration in balancing a budget."
Somehow the university is supposed to deal with a $5-million cut. The government shouldn't blindly look at university interests only to suggest avoiding tuition hikes.
If a legislator can tell the university not to raise tuition, it should be just as easy for the university to tell the Legislature to not cut its budget. Legislators and the university should come together to figure out these financial situations.
The university has to come up with inventive ways to save money, but legislators need to help. Whitmer should realize tuition will always be a consideration in making ends meet.
Institutions such as MSU already have been trimming down costs in their programs and legislators should acknowledge that.
The state government keeps passing the responsibilities of budget cuts down the line, which is unfair to make others take the fall.
Nobody likes to cut back on spending, but a cut like this is required. MSU can prepare for the $5-million cut all it wants, but hiking tuition costs might be the only solution to the problem.
Legislators and the university need to meet in the middle to come up with a solution that will not empty students' pockets and still be able to make up for the state's revenue shortfall.
