MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon told state lawmakers Thursday that a proposed funding increase included in Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget could help the university reverse the tide of rising tuition costs.
In a meeting with the three-member Senate Higher Education Appropriations subcommittee, the group received testimony from MSU officials and other Michigan universities as the legislature begins to determine state funding for the upcoming fiscal year.
Simon said there was “tension about how to be one of the great research universities in the world,” yet “good enough for the proudest and open to the poorest,” an adage often mentioned when discussing MSU’s values.
Simon said the proposed increase in funding was “very much welcome,” and testified to the subcommittee that the recommendation was “a way of turning the tide” in state appropriations.
Gov. Rick Snyder recommended increasing the university’s state funding by 6.1 percent in his most recent budget proposal. This would equate to an almost $15.3 million increase known as performance funding, although it is up to legislators in the House and Senate to propose and agree upon an exact dollar amount while drafting next year’s budget.
To receive the increased funding, MSU will have to limit tuition increases to 3.2 percent or less
Testimonies from Simon and other Michigan university presidents in previous years have taken on a conciliatory tone toward funding outlooks, mainly explaining how they have adjusted to weather the fiscal constraints.
But outside of legislative proceedings, MSU officials have lamented funding trends. The most dramatic changes occurred in 2011, when MSU’s funding was cut 15 percent. Appropriations have not returned to that level since.
When comparing funding dollars per student to levels 20 or 30 years ago, Simon said the shifts were not positive.
“It’s been maybe too easy to shift the burden to families, and maybe we’ve done more than we should to not whine as much,” Simon said.
MSU recently announced it will do more to push for more funding — only not through university officials.
MSU Communications and Brand Strategy created Spartan Advocate, a site that gives MSU students and alumni tools to contact their legislators and urges them to support funding increases.
Simon said the governor’s Executive Budget Recommendation usually indicates a “high watermark” in the process, because the actual amount received is generally lower. She said Spartan Advocate could “hold this recommendation together.”
The appropriation subcommittee’s chair, Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker, R-Lawton, acknowledged higher education has “endured years of cuts” but called Snyder’s recommendation “a good start.”
“In terms of the limited dollars that we have, I do believe that we are trying our best (to) make sure that college is affordable and accessible,” Schuitmaker said.
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