On Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Snyder held a 15-minute phone interview with reporters from The State News, Grand Valley Lanthorn, Central Michigan Life and the Michigan Daily.
Snyder began by saying he would "stick by his record" and cited job growth, especially for young people, as one of his key accomplishments.
Snyder's opponent, Mark Schauer points to the fact that Michigan's unemployment ranks 44th in the nation, with a rate of 7.4 percent, which is higher then the national average of 5.9 percent. However, Snyder points to the rate of job growth in the state, which is ranked 16th in the nation according to businessinsider.com.
Regarding education, Snyder said he wanted to make college more affordable by encouraging dual-enrollment for high school students, calling it "the single biggest saver."
He said he believed the tuition caps imposed on universities were "largely successful" and that he wanted have a more in-depth dialogue with universities to pursue cost-saving actions and increase need-based financial aid.
The first budget recommendation of Snyder’s term in office called for deep cuts in higher education appropriations, and MSU’s funding decreased 15 percent. Each year since has seen only modest increases.
"We did have to make a cut to the higher ed budget that first year to balance the budget, which was difficult. What I will say since then is we have made increases in the 3% range or so...and this last year we actually made a double digit increase," Snyder said.
However, MSU was only approved to receive a 6 percent increase in state funding in the most recent state budget, despite a large surplus in the state's coffers.
Funding for higher education has still not returned to levels before Snyder took office. MSU officials have lamented the decreasing role of state funding to support the university, citing the appropriations as a primary driver of tuition increases.
Snyder said if the recovery of the economy "keeps up" at its current pace, he hopes to restore the higher education budget to what it was before he took office "and add more revenue to the universities."
On the issue of gay marriage, Snyder declined to share his personal beliefs on the issue.
He said that he would wait for the U.S. Court of Appeals to determine the legality of same-sex marriage and would then make sure Michigan followed the law.
"The marriage issue is one that is constitutional. So it's not something as the governor I can do directly," Snyder said. "We really would have too look at a ballot proposal, most likely."
Snyder said he has encouraged the legislature to look at the Elliot-Larson Civil Rights Act as an example of his stance against discrimination.
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