From MLive this morning, “Eastern Michigan University increases tuition 7.7 percent.” Three brief thoughts for now:
- It could have been worse– Grand Valley raised tuition over 13% and Western went up (I think?) over 9%. 7.7% is along the lines of the other public institutions in Michigan.
- I am completely incapable of doing the math/figuring the budgets on such things, but at what point does it make sense for a place like EMU to quite consciously and with some publicity make an announcement along the lines of “We’re not going to raise tuition to keep higher education affordable and to try to increase enrollment,” or something like that? In other words, isn’t there a point in time in which not raising tuition might actually end up attracting more students and thus “saving” EMU money?
- A couple of disturbing quotes from BoR members. First this one: “Regent Roy Wilbanks said 6.8 percent of the increase will go to operations such as salaries, and 0.9 percent will be directed to building improvements.” (emphasis added) Riiight…. What is costing EMU is rising salaries. It has nothing to do with rising energy costs, falling enrollment, paying off Fallon et al, quite literally millions in legal fees, etc., etc.
And then this one: “‘We’re going to to try to run our business more efficiently,’ [Regent Jim] Stapleton said in an interview with The News.” Someone might want to clue Regent Stapleton in on this: a public university is not a “business.”
Wow….seriously Wow!
“With the increase, tuition and mandatory fees will cost instate undergraduates $8,069 this academic year. Out-of state undergraduates will pay $21,464.”
I think I borrowed a total of $12,000 for my first 3 years, 2 of which were in the dorms. This was 16 years ago though.
I’m confused why they need a 6.9 % increase for salaries, when professors aren’t getting a 6.9% pay increase? Which salaries are getting the majority of that increase? I suppose the 9% health care increases could eat some of that. While if they are increasing to pay the professors and lecturers more to retain good teachers and staff, fine, but if they are giving all of the administrators hefty raises…rip off!
I agree, perhaps not raising tuition would attract more students. Wow, $8,000 a year…I don’t know how anyone can afford to go to school…and I definitely don’t think anyone will be choosing EMU from out of state.
Public Universities : Laws of Busines :: Human Beings : Laws of Nature
We just don’t think they apply.
“Someone might want to clue Regent Stapleton in on this: a public university is not a ‘business.’”
Perhaps we should start acting like one. It’s not like the sate is going to turn around and start re-funding the inefficiencies that plague higher ed.
Greg, I think we might as well say “why can’t Ford work more like higher education?” Or “perhaps secondary schools ought to start acting more like a business,” or “perhaps the police and the fire department ought to start acting more like a business” or “perhaps public libraries ought to start acting more like businesses.” The reason why universities don’t operate like businesses is because we aren’t businesses! We aren’t trying to make a profit, we don’t have shareholders to pay, and education that is “efficient” is often not very good– for example, large lecture hall classes for everything.
Rather, public universities– particularly “opportunity-granting” universities like EMU– are a service to the community, the state, and the nation to extend the chance for education. We’re in the same category, broadly speaking, as secondary schools, the police department, the fire department, and public libraries. What’s happened in higher ed for the last 20 or 30 years is the state has provided less and less money, and universities have returned the favor by passing more and more of the costs onto students.
Frankly, if schools like EMU did behave more like a business, I am quite sure it would cost even more than it does.
Incidentally, I graduated from college in 1988, and I don’t believe I ever paid more than $1200 a year in tuition. I’m not sure how much that is in today’s dollars though….
EMU had the lowest tuition in the State for several years. It did nothing to increase enrollment.
Hi All
This is another example of the inablility of EMU to communicate effectively to the public. Why wasn’t a press release given to the media at the meeting? Why aren’t the Regents given talking points so they can effectively communicate the information to the public?
Salaries, as a whole, at EMU are NOT increasing by 6.8%. In most cases when you add the negotiated salary increases to the savings from people retiring or leaving (those without the EMU golden plan), there is little increase in salaries (probably 2%). Take the EMU lecturers, 12 of them were axed. I do not know how we can say “Education First” and do that.
So where’s the money going? Here are some place I know:
1) Natural gas (which EMU uses to heat and cool buildings) alone has doubled since last year. Energy costs will eat up a 1-2% of the increase. See that big hole behind the Physical Plant. Those new tanks will need to be filled at $130 per barrel.
2) Financial aid – if EMU increases financial aid by 10%, it has to get that money from the other “paying customers”. Almost 2% of the increase is for financial aid. I wonder when we stop that circle – increasing tuition to give it back in aid? Does it really increase enrollment?
3) More marketing money, but hopefully that would bring more students. The results so far are poor at best and I wonder if throwing more money at the problem fixes it.
4) The buildings – any EMU student or alum knows what condition of the academic buildings. I hope we see tangible results on campus with this increase. It would be another public relations disaster if we cannot point out the changes to the ACADEMIC buildings next July.
5) The library (I hope) – the budget council recommended an increase to help the library maintain its holdings. EMU has not increased the library budget in years, but costs of the online subscriptions are increasing (at the rate of student textbooks!). That’s why every year the librarians come around to the departments and ask the faculty what journals to cut this year. However, I do not know if this increase was included since none of the documents where released (it’s more than 24 hours after a public meeting and the Regents website promise the documents would be available immediately).
On the business front, EMU is doing a great job as a business. EMU is a business. Just wait until late August when they announce the profit EMU made last year. It will be 7 figures…….
JP
Here’s a link to the story in the AANews Thursday afternoon: “Eastern Michigan Unversity students react to nearly 8 percent tuition hike.” Yes, the headline writer at the AAN misspelled “university.” Again the article talks about the bulk of this going to salaries: “Officials said 6.8 percent of the increase will go to operations such as salaries, and 0.9 percent will generate $1.5 million annually in building improvements.” Boy, I sure hope that isn’t true. As far as I know, faculty salaries (and that’s the bulk of salaries at EMU) aren’t going up even close to 6%, and as JP accurately points out, we’ve fired some lecturers. And we’re probably also going to be down some in terms of number of faculty overall.
So, who’s getting this money for the pay raise?
Hi
FYI: A course breakdown of the new budget is finally on the website under the BOR.
Salaries and wages at EMU will increase LESS THAN 1% next year.
And yes sitedad you are correct, there will be less faculty in the Fall.
JP
Is it really true that the University Marketing and Communications staff – the public information office – failed to produce a factually accurate press release outlining all the details of the tuition and fees increase that was enacted by the Board of Regents? How could they overlook the need for such a document?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Is it really true that the University Marketing and Communications staff – the public information office – failed to produce a factually accurate press release outlining all the details of the tuition and fees increase that was enacted by the Board of Regents?
Will this be the first time?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> How could they overlook the need for such a document?
The track record of that office has been horrendous for many many years. The President should clean house!