There’s a new reason for MSU students to go green — but with envy. According to a report issued by the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan, financial assistance from MSU on average totaled 42 percent of a student’s tuition in 2009-10.
In contrast, the average financial aid Michigan universities offered in 2010 was 50.5 percent of a student’s tuition.
This gap in tuition funding is not MSU punishing its students, and it should not be perceived as such. Rather, this study should remind students of somewhat depressing information they already know. Times are tough in Michigan, and the economic pinch is being felt by public universities and their students.
In the 2011-12 state budget, MSU’s funding fell by 15 percent, or $42.6 million. Funding for public universities statewide was cut $213.1 million. With these sizable losses, it’s easy to see why universities have less money to help their students pay for higher education.
MSU could be doing more to help students. The money they would use to do so, however, certainly would affect MSU as a whole in a negative way.
If the university were to take money from professors, that would lessen the university’s ability to attract quality faculty members, threatening its ability to continue providing a high-caliber education.
If the university were to hold off on improving or expanding its facilities — especially after admitting the largest number of freshmen in school history — the quality of the facilities students visit every day would drop, leading to image issues. It’s a zero-sum game.
Financial aid does not simply materialize out of thin air; it comes from the university coffers. And right now, those coffers are emptying out fast. If students are perfectly honest with themselves, they know they likely will have to take on debt when attending college.
Although not ideal, that is how higher education is paid for in this day and age. Any assistance offered by the university is helpful, but it is limited in its uses. It doesn’t help students pay for books or food or housing or any of the other things that quickly add up.
By taking out loans, students are investing in themselves by investing in their education — a choice worth making.
Students should not forget the bang they get for their loan buck: a top-notch education at a Big Ten school and the social and educational equipment needed to go out into the world and succeed.
When there are more fiscally stable times, the university definitely should raise its financial assistance levels to reach or exceed the state average.
Unfortunately, now is not that time. Students and universities alike will have to continue to do more with less. Both must wait until there are better economic times and then seize that opportunity to restore their former strength.
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