The Ann Arbor News has an article on the soon to be defunct paper front page, “Students: Please freeze tuition,” while is online version as the headline “The cry at U-M, other campuses: No tuition hikes.” Here’s the relevant part about this particular “other campus:”
Anxiety isn’t limited to students at U-M. “I’ve been here 33 years, and I have never seen financial aid, in general, the way it is now,” said Cynthia Van Pelt, director of the financial aid office at Eastern Michigan University.
She said financial aid applications are up 9 percent at EMU as of mid-March compared to the same period last year.
EMU also expects to handle double the number of appeals from students seeking to increase the financial aid packages for next year. In the prior round, 150 students appealed their financial aid awards.
“People are afraid,” said Van Pelt. “We’re doing everything we can to enable families to figure out what the bottom line is. They want to be able to plan.”
The problem with a tuition freeze is if Michigan is going to cut funding to public universities like EMU, then EMU has to make up the shortfalls somewhere. That’s a complicated issue:
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has recommended another round of belt-tightening for state universities, this time a 3 percent cut in their appropriations for the next fiscal year, which would be a reduction of $10 million for U-M.
But for universities that also adhere to her charge to freeze tuition for next fall, Granholm has said she hopes to use federal economic stimulus money to help with their budgets.
So, if I’m understanding this correctly: Granholm wants places like EMU to take a 3 percent cut and not raise tuition, and if EMU et al do this, then maybe– just maybe– we will get some of that money back from the feds. The problem with this from EMU’s and the other state unversities’ perspectives is that the state has made this sort of promise before and not held up their part of the bargain.
I have a better idea: why doesn’t Granholm hold funding to higher ed at currently levels and ask the universities to freeze tuition, and then take some of that federal stimulus money to make up the shortfalls on the state’s end?