Funding for the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU Extension and building renovations will be discussed on Friday when the MSU Board of Trustees meets to consider parameters for next year's state appropriations.
The 2005-06 fiscal year recommendations are particularly important to plan for in light of shrinking state funds and last year's budget discussions, university officials said.
President-designate Lou Anna Simon said receiving adequate funding is important to keep MSU's programs on track.
"State appropriations support teaching research and outreach functions at the university," Simon said. "We are highly dependent on the state to permit us to have complete and full academic programs."
During Friday's meeting, the board will look at suggestions from the Trustee Finance Committee regarding which areas to support with next year's state appropriations.
Recommendations include giving $5 million each to the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and MSU Extension programs, which both research economic development and quality of life issues in Michigan.
Renovations to university buildings, including Baker and Giltner halls and the Shaw Lane Power Plant, are also suggested.
Trustee David Porteous said funding for upkeep, new developments and research should be given to MSU because the university provides economic support to the state.
"When you look at the fact that almost 90 percent of our students come from the state, I think we provide significant benefits to Michigan," he said. "Education is a critical component to the economic success of Michigan in the future."
MSU risked losing that support, to the tune of $8.8 million, during 2004-05 fiscal year appropriation discussions. Some legislators said they thought university officials violated an agreement to keep tuition increases under the rate of inflation, and thus wanted to take away some of the funding.
MSU President M. Peter McPherson said he and state officials went to bat for the university to make sure MSU received full funding. When the final deal was inked, the university received about $287 million, or $6,914 per student.
McPherson said he was confident that MSU would receive the full amount.
"We had a very good case and frankly, MSU has a history of containing tuition increases," McPherson said. "We had great credibility."
When board members look at next year's parameters, they might also discuss the differences between funding levels for each of Michigan's 15 public universities.
MSU is the lowest funded of the state's three major research universities. In last year's budget, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University received $8,296 and $9,438, respectively, per student. MSU received $6,914 per student.
Mike Boulus, executive director of the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan - a higher education association serving Michigan's public universities - said the state has had smaller education budgets during the last three years.
This forced every university to take a 15 percent cut in their budget. Although all universities suffered the same amount of cuts, other universities have just historically received more than MSU, Boulus said.
"It's just been historical that over time, different political leaders put additional resources behind other institutions," Boulus said. "The president's council is looking at ways to see if we can come up with a funding allocation model that would fix that."
Porteous said he hopes all the parameters board members discuss on Friday will be funded next year by a budget allocated more evenly to each university.
"We think when you look at our history of good financial stewardship and our contributions to the state, we're able to make a very compelling case to the state to close the funding gap that we have with other major research universities," Porteous said.
