Public Colleges Sink or Swim in the Great Lakes State

Autor/in	Smith, Lauren
Titel	Public Colleges Sink or Swim in the Great Lakes State
Quelle	In: Chronicle of Higher Education, 53 (2007) 40, (1 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0009-5982
Schlagwörter	Higher Education; State Legislation; Budgeting; Taxes; Research Universities; Public Colleges; Medical Schools; Educational Finance; Community Colleges; Futures (of Society); Educational Trends; California; Michigan + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Landesrecht; Abgabe; Forschungseinrichtung; Medizinische Ausbildung; Bildungsfonds; Community college; Community College; Future; Society; Zukunft; Bildungsentwicklung; Kalifornien
Abstract	For more than half a century, the lucrative Detroit automobile industry drove Michigan's economy, providing the state with plenty of tax revenue to support its public colleges and universities. In recent years, however, the woes of the Big Three auto companies have caused state spending to plummet, resulting in cuts or minimal increases in the higher-education budget. Governor Jennifer M. Granholm and many lawmakers publicly acknowledge that the way out of this budget hole is to use higher education to transform the state's economy to one more dependent on knowledge-based industries. But paying for that transformation is proving harder than first thought. Michigan faces three big fiscal problems: the deficit for this fiscal year, another projected deficit next year, and the elimination of a major business tax -- which brings in $1.9-billion annually -- on December 31. Late in May, the governor and leaders of the Legislature reached a tentative agreement that would postpone a $73.3-million payment to higher education from August until the beginning of the next fiscal year, October 1. If the full Legislature approves the plan, meant to help close Michigan's $800-million budget shortfall for this fiscal year, the state will also delay the payment of an additional $29-million in funds to its community colleges. As part of her budget, Governor Granholm has proposed dividing Michigan's public universities into two groups in the budget process, so that lawmakers would handle appropriations for its three large research universities differently than for its smaller public universities. Many of the regional universities are voicing concern, viewing division of the budget process as a way to potentially finance the three universities with medical schools at a different level in the future. But the governor's proposal could be good news for the regional colleges, based on success of the University of California and California State University systems after their appropriationswere split in the 1960s. Splitting the appropriations may allow the flagship universities to act more like privately supported public universities, a trend that some see as most promising for universities' future prosperity. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Chronicle of Higher Education. 1255 23rd Street NW Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037. Tel: 800-728-2803; e-mail: circulation@chronicle.com; Web site: http://chronicle.com/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10