Higher ed costs across the country go up faster than inflation. Why is that?
See http://insidehighered.com/views/2008/01/24/marthers for some interesting commentary, especially regarding why the public views higher ed the way it does and consequences of the business model.
Hi All!
This is an interesting article, but it misses a key point that is affecting tuition rates at EMU and probably all the other MI public institutions: the investment in higher education by the State.
Every year things become more expensive – it’s part of the economic system. Higher education in Michigan was supported and subsidized by the State. As recently as 2001-02, EMU received more of its operating revenue from the State than any other source, over 50%. Since then, the State Appropriation has decreased in actual dollars (no fancy math needed) for nearly every MI public institution. In 2007, the State of MI only provided about 25% of the operating revenue for EMU. But costs of fuel, energy, health care, building new buildings, maintaining old buildings, technology, salaries, etc are increasing.
So who makes up the difference? The people paying tuition. Tuition has to make up for not only inflation but the decreasing state subsidy. It is a double-whammy for college-bound taxpayers – instead of your tax dollars being used to subsidize higher education, they are used for something else (you did not get them back) and then you pay for the difference in higher tuition. Ouch.
The simple facts are that EMU has basically two sources of revenue: the State and tuition. The problem is further compounded as other smaller sources of revenue decrease, for example when more and more students choose to live off campus (and instead pay revenue to the oil companies as they drive to class and sit in traffic) and do not eat in the dining halls (and instead pay revenue to the fast food companies as they drive to class and sit in traffic).
If you are interested in seeing this evidence, see the Faculty Budget forum slides 16-18, and remember the purple bar in 2008 on slide 17 was the missed payment from 2007. EMU is receiving a smaller State Appropriation in 2008 than it did in 2001. So is CMU and WMU.
Now all that being said, EMU or any university should not get a free pass to haphazardly raise tuition. The State Appropriation for EMU is still about $80,000,000. Everyone at EMU has the responsibility to ask how are tuition dollars being spent and are we spending these dollars to improve the quality of the education of our students? We all need to scrutinize the spending and focus that spending on what is important: education first. This is why transparency in the budget process should be important to students, parents, faculty, and staff.
JP
JP has it right, as to why higher ed’s costs are going up; and while his comments focus on Michigan, it’s much the same story nationwide for public higher ed — although the fiscal crisis in this state is sharper, given the state’s economic troubles.
And the point about the need to ensure money from tuition and fees are used responsibly at EMU is critically important for EMU’s public credibility and future effectiveness: The days of higher ed being given a free pass by legislators and taxpayers are long over. Universities must ensure accountability for how we use public funds (an area EMU has been below par in), and schools that fail to meet that standard of accountability will not be rewarded by the public, either thru the school selection decisions of 18 year olds or the appropriations of legislators. But these are long term considerations, and EMU’s managers have been absolutely incapable of thinking long term, or of putting EMU’s needs in the context of broad social trends.