| The Freep's editorial this morning takes to task leaders at the state's 15 public universities for raising tuition. Hello? Are the caretakers of these great institutions unaware that Michigan boasts the nation's highest unemployment rate, a top-10 home foreclosure rate and the prospect of much more economic mayhem before things get better? How on Earth are families that struggle now to pay college tuition supposed to keep up with these kinds of increases?
The paper's editorial also says college students will suspend their educations rather than pay extra tuition. That might be the case for some of them, but it's just as likely that those same students will take advantage of programs that over the years have made transferring credits a lot more seamless to attend community colleges for a couple of years and after knocking out basic courses, move to a more advanced program for a four-year degree. But, whatever, the point is taken ... making higher education more expensive isn't a good way to make higher education more available. The real problem, however, is that the universities are raising tuition because in the past the state has used the university system as an easy source for funding cuts. It's the same thing with local governments and revenue sharing. Why? Because universities can raise their own revenue by raising tuition and charging people otherwise ridiculous fees [for instance, the three threatening letters I've gotten from Central Michigan University demanding that I pay them first $80 and then $20 for a library book I returned a month after it was due (I went out and bought a used copy of it for $11 on Amazon.com)]. Local governments can raise local millage rates. In other words, state government has traditionally gotten to claim credit for cutting spending while local governments and universities catch no end to flak for raising tuition and charging fees. A better solution, to me, would be if the state properly invested in its education system, which I thought everyone agreed was an important tool to building a more sound economy for the future (then, we can talk about investing in fostering a lifestyle that competes well with places drawing today's college graduates ... and people ain't leaving the state because of taxes). Does that mean raising taxes? Well, I'd prefer the state do other things (like making sure that only people who belong in prison are sent to prison; and that only people who have really commited a real crime and not just violated someone's personal sense of morality get prosecuted), and perhaps consider rejiggering the tax system so it better reflects the 21st century. Beyond that... |
