Gov. Jennifer Granholm is starting to realize if she wants qualified professionals to play a role in improving Michigan's economy, the state's going to have to pay up.
Granholm released her budget for the 2007 fiscal year (which begins Oct. 1) on Thursday, promising to increase funding for higher education by $34 million. Her budget, which must be approved before the fiscal year begins, totals $42.6 billion.
MSU's piece of the pie would look something like this:
• As a research university, MSU receives a guaranteed 2 percent increase.
• That means MSU gets $5.7 million in additional funding next fiscal year.
• MSU got $283.7 million from the state this year.
• And that means we might be looking at a grand total of about $289.4 million next fiscal year.
That's a substantial amount of money and it's better than the cuts MSU has received in the past three to five years — including about $40 million in losses of annual funds for state appropriations.
But considering how much higher education seems to play into Granholm's plans to improve the state's lagging economy, it's just not enough.
In her State of the State address in January, Granholm said the best jobs in Michigan will require a college degree and that getting more people in college is imperative to helping people get better jobs. She also emphasized the development of alternative energies as key to helping Michigan.
That research, of course, will be conducted at colleges and universities.
It's obvious she recognizes how important it is to make college more accessible to everyone, but the money she's promising doesn't match her rhetoric.
MSU can undoubtedly use the extra funds and will probably put it toward continuing services and programs it currently offers.
It's unknown whether any of that extra $5.7 million will be used to make sure tuition doesn't increase this year.
Granholm wants more Michigan citizens in college, but that's going to be difficult if tuition gets raised again.
We'll say it again: Higher tuition means less people are able to afford higher education. That's why MSU officials will need to take a close look at the university's budget and see what can be done to not raise tuition. Their goal should be to try to create a budget for MSU that doesn't raise tuition.
Granholm had a tough decision to make in creating her budget and whether to cut or increase funding. She's chosen to give universities, including MSU, more money — just not enough.
It's a difficult situation for everyone involved, but one that needs everyone to be thinking about what's best for MSU and Michigan.
