Ugh, what a snarky and badly-written article on the Detroit Freep web site, “Why don’t colleges cut costs?
While families tighten belts, universities’ budgets grow.” I’m not going to pretend to understand all of the reasons why university expenses have been increasing over the last 20-odd years, but I will say this:
- Part of it is a matter of perspective; from where I am sitting, I’m seeing all kinds of cuts and budget-saving measures being imposed on faculty and staff, some of them pretty nasty.
- I am pretty sure there is a direct correlation between increases in tuition at public colleges and universities and systematic cuts from state governments. It’s a national trend, and the irony is that the same people who once complained about too much tax money going to higher education are the same ones who are complaining now about tuition increases.
- Oddly, the article doesn’t mention community colleges. I have to say that if I was just starting college, short on funds, and not entirely sure what I wanted to major in/do in college, I’d start with classes at a CC.
- EMU gets one mention in the article, which is we’re only raising tuition 3.8%, which is the lowest of any of the universities mentioned. And I think that 3.8% is probably just a hair above cost of living adjustments.
What is the main reason for increased tuition cost? As the US government continually increases Pell grants….state governments concomitantly slash funding to higher ed as a way to save state revenue for other venues…ultimately this passes the cost of college to the end user. When I attended college in Texas 20 years ago, the state funded roughly 70% of the college budget. Today, it is about 30%. How does the college make up for this short fall? Increasing external funding (grant awards) and tuition dollars.
I spoke with a life guard at a local pool on Sunday. A young kid. Asked him if he was a student. He responded that he was a student at WCC and was going to transfer to EMU for computer engineering. Just parked outside the pool area was a new, black, smoked glass, Mustang GT. Need I say more.
In regard to WCC my son and daughter each took general chemistry and had a very bad experience. The professor or instructor was not qualified, skipped and canceled class for his real job and answers questions with the classic: “That’s the way it is” or “because.” As far as I’m concerned the community college is another way to dumb down the educational system in this country. And the girl in the article that the Free Press wrote with the quote “Bite me.” Pure class! Open your mouth and your brains fall out.
The sheer amount of extreme extravagance from way over inflated budget for Student Government to the unnecessary New Student Union…. The Presidential Palace…. To the slush fund that former President Kirkpatrick had….
To the over inflated salaries in the upper administration….The mounting lawsuits in which the most recent one was a ANTI-CHRISTIAN broad based ban against a counselor that simply did her job the way she was taught and the way the profession as a whole is taught….when dealing with clients that they hold a religious conflict with.
To so much more…. Eastern Michigan University spends so much money for practically NO VALUE to educating students that the cost cutting measures against Faculty and Staff are laughable.
It is well within reason to object to how much money EMU Spends that does not carry the interests of the University’s mission and their own slogan “Education First.”
Much can also be said about the TRAVEL expenditure. Back then the business and finance director was Stephan Holda and I questioned to him why the Travel Budget was so much and why that shouldn’t be cut to offset the Tuition Hikes… He responded by saying that the Travel was a “Necessary thing” and did not provide any limit or reasonable expectation for how much a Travel budget should be. Apparently, to him and many administrators I guess cutting trips around the Country isn’t as important as keeping a University affordable for middle class Americans. I found that to be extremely over inflated given the circumstances of the recessionary economy.
A real President of EMU would have agreed to a PAY CUT… Not a $85,000 Pay Raise from $200,000 a year which is where it was a short few years ago. When it comes to TUITION…..All we hear about from University Presidents and EMU STUDENT GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS is that no matter how high EMU’s Tuition Rate is hiked, it always happens to be reasonable compared to other Michigan schools. Well, what is reasonable? Seriously? Double Digit hikes… several of them in this decade… That’s reasonable? Sure when compared to other universities like U of M and Michigan State that are even worse with their budgeting responsibilties.
I don’t understand why it is necessary for Universities like EMU to HIKE Tuition as a FIRST RESORT that CAN NOT be disputed and fought against effectively and fairly by the Student Body…. Why is that so necessary to have this dictatorship role by the Board of Reagents? Why? It is well within the rights of everyone American Taxpayer and Michigan prospective EMU Student to question what EMU has actually “CUT” in comparison to what they actually “SPEND.”
I can rattle off tons of spending examples… EMU Wanted to spend money on a “COLLEGE PLACE” remodeling beuatification effort.. Not sure if that ever happened.. It dealt with Cross Street…. EMU DID however spend untold amounts of cash on hiring a Contractor to plant Adult Trees around Campus when they most certainly had the opportunity to have Volunteers FOR FREE (who where already present planting plants) to be used to plant smaller trees around campus.. Or to be used to plant SEEDs years ago so we never would have a situation where we cut down too many trees and don’t replace them.
” too much tax money going to higher education are the same ones who are complaining now about tuition increases.”
Irony? You only see irony because you do not want to admit that EMU has spent and spent and spent money on so many things it never needed to!
McKenny Union should still be McKenny Union!
The complaints from folks of the Conservative Ideology is that
A) State Governments DO spend too much Taxpayer money on Higher Education.
B) Tuition is Extremely High…
C) And Tuition IS HIGH because of all of the excess spending that Universities do!
There’s far too much spending having NO VALUE on education and the student body going on.
If EMU actually kept their budget within reason then there wouldn’t be much need for State Tax money.
This never was a State Tax money issue. It never was! How many SCANDALS costing EMU hundreds of thousands of dollars happened in this decade?
Lots of Scandals.. From Kirkpatrick to Fallon to Jim Vick… Countless scandals…
To ignore those scandals as a pretty darn expensive thing to have to fund…a cost to the university… un-necessary cost…
The truth is that taxpayers see these scandals… see that the Presidential Palace still exists….The NEW Student UNION still exists….
See how extravagant both those buildings are…. And they can’t possibly see things your way… ??? The Problem is State Tax Money???
Show me a reasonable budget then I’ll believe it’s a State Tax issue.
Well, I will say this:
While I was not that crazy about the Student Center project when it was going on, I think it now makes a lot of sense. It’s over by the dorms and main parking, so it’s convenient for students, and it’s just a whole lot nicer than McKenny. These things make a difference in terms of the impressions they give to people who visit campus and who are thinking about coming to EMU, and they make a big difference to the people who are here. So the student center was a good move.
Now, I don’t think we’re making near enough use out of the somewhat remodeled McKenny, but that’s a slightly different issue.
I don’t think that the things that go on at EMU are that much different from any place else. Eastern has always been a very frugile institution. What should we do, turn the clock back to 1950? The place has to grow, replace buildings, build new ones, pay administrators and everyone else competitive salaries.
MacMillen: So you are saying that the Presidents house and the new union should be torn down? You also forgot the several million dollars being spent to fix dorms, etc.?
SiteDad: Have you ever tried to look behind the frosted glass in McKenny? You can still see all of the old kitchen equipment and area. I don’t think it was all renovated.
Actually, there’s a lot of McKenny that hasn’t been renovated yet, Alum. As I understand it (I have just heard this– I don’t know if it’s true), the second floor is pretty much mothballed right now until they come up with the money to redo it.
And of course don’t forget that faculty, lecturers and adjuncts were paid, aggregately, over $70 million dollars THIS YEAR ALONE! And of course, those people will receive raises.
If anybody is unhappy with working at the university, they can leave and work down the road.
It seems the university has a lot of history of good (and bad) but there is much hope for the future. It would be so much easier to look to all the good that is happening, work through the financial strain we are experiencing in the state and know that eventually it will get better.
“It’s over by the dorms and main parking, so it’s convenient for students, and it’s just a whole lot nicer than McKenny. These things make a difference in terms of the impressions they give to people who visit campus”
That’s the problem! That kind of thinking is why Universities will ALWAYS be labeled as Excessive Spenders.
I much would have rather seen a nice, smaller scaled down building to act as another Eatery…. Still keeping McKenny Union as McKenny union.
All that was needed was to diversify the population to another place to eat. McKenny Union’s space was more than perfect for everyone except for the dining issue during Peak Lunch Times.
I’m just saying that if EMU eliminated 100%…. EVERYTHING… across the board that had no apparent Educational Purpose for Students in the budget….
Then you’d have a Budget that us Donors or Taxpayers can actually believe is fair.
My biggest gripe about Public Universities is knowing just how much CHEAPER Higher Education would be for everyone if we dumped all of this excessive Luxury Based Spending.
Just because something is NICER or “NICE” doesn’t make it “NECESSARY.”
I couldn’t care less about this whole business about “No one will go to our school unless we bought GOLDEN Railings for our Stairwells.”
The truth is that Private Industry thinks the way I do.. There are countless examples of Private Industry Schools that focus ONLY on spending on what is Necessary instead of LUXURY. These Private Schools have Outperformed their Public Institutions in Graduation Rates and Enrollment year after year.
If EMU is supposed to represent “EDUCATION FIRST” then it can not continue to justify “LUXURY” until it budgets “EDUCATION FIRST.”
Students go to a UNIVERSITY solely based on the quality of its Educational system. They do not choose a School because the “UNION LOOKS GOOD.” I chose EMU because their Professional Communications Program was the best in the State…. That’s the reason I went to EMU!!! Not because I thought the Presidential House was nice looking.
LUXURY absolutely isn’t a factor by any remote significance in a prospective student deciding where to go to College. Students choose colleges based on 2 main factors alone:
1) How much does it cost??? If I can’t afford to go… then I can’t go.
2) How does the Educational Quality compare with other Schools (in particular does the university offer classes that I need)?
Those 2 main factors are pretty much the ONLY factors or nearly the ONLY factors that a student uses to decide where to go. I spoke with at least 1 individual that never went to EMU cause he said it was too pricy and he couldn’t afford to go (FACTOR #2)…. I Decided against going to Central Michigan because it was too expensive (FACTOR #2).
Sure.. Some students don’t mind sending themselves into humongous debt, but I assure you those are the minority…. The vast majority of students care about the entry price of the school and the qualify of education.
I have NEVER met an individual who said he went to EMU because of some Luxury spending that EMU Did…
Alum wrote,
“MacMillen: So you are saying that the Presidents house and the new union should be torn down? You also forgot the several million dollars being spent to fix dorms, etc.?”
The money spent to FIX DORMS is necessary spending. That falls into the category of “NECESSARY” versus “LUXURY.”
The reason the Presidential Palace falls into “LUXURY” is several reasons.. Let’s start with the fact that EMU actually has 2…not 1…..2 Presidential Houses.
Why in the heck do you think that getting rid of a 2nd Presidential House is the same thing as getting rid of money meant to Fix the Dorms?
I’m not saying get rid of BOTH presidential houses…. I’m saying the Newest Presidential House (never should have been built) should be removed…. By doing so we eliminate a large amount of annual expenses to sustain that house and we free up all of that City Block Wide space for future Educational Purposes.
The NEW UNION is really EMU’s 2nd UNION cause EMU Never torn down McKenny Union. So… Tearing down the NEW UNION is not the same thing as spending money to fix dorms….
It is simply living within your means that I advocate. You already have a union… Why build another?
If you want to cease spending money on fixing dorms ALUM.. if that’s YOUR CHOICE then I would hope you are saying that to mean that you don’t think EMU should have Dorms? Cause it is against the law to move Students into an Unsafe, Unsanitary Living Conditions.
While.. It is certainly not against the law to have 1 Presidential House and 1 Union instead of 2 of Each.
Of course…. Having ZERO Presidential Houses… ZERO is fine with me of course… We do pay the President $285,000 a year… If She can’t afford to buy a house with that kind of cash when Home Prices have dropped more than 50% so far….Then that’s laughable..
The President of EMU can afford to buy her own HOME with her insanely high Salary. She makes more than the President of the United States if I am not mistaken?
Jeff – as someone put it last week, very eloquently, I might add. Quit your bitching.
And as I will say… quite eloquently….
Them’s the Facts. Don’t like the facts?
Quit Bitching at the messenger.
However, I am mistaken about one thing.
http://www.govspot.com/know/presidentsalary.htm
That shows that $400,000 is what the President of the United States makes per year. The Vice President makes $221,000.
So the President of EMU falls in-between the Vice President and President of the United States.
Ultimately, no matter how eloquent or professorial you wish to sound like… attacking the messenger rather than dealing with the facts of EMU’s budget over this decade… I mean putting it into some real perspective…
It’s your choice ultimately… Your choice.. I don’t know what EMU’s enrollment figures have been lately but if they aren’t good… They were on the decline a short time ago…. If those numbers aren’t good… Then people like me should get more respect. If I don’t speak up then the comment string was set to be a complete attack against the News Article with NO ONE defending it. I just wanted to make sure that a DEFENSE of the news article would be made available to your readers.
Now Jeff, I don’t want to have to bounce you from the site, but….
President Martin had nothing to do with university house. She may not have even wanted to move into the house. I do know that she holds many, many university-sponsored events there. As a person holding a Ph.D. in accounting, I believe she is acutely aware of every penny coming into and going out of the university. Again, we cannot change those things that have happened in the past. She (and the current administration) had nothing to do with building the student center, had nothing to do with building university house. That stuff is old news…one can either continue moaning and groaning over old stuff or work for the good stuff in our future. Pray-Harrold is on the docket, Mark Jefferson, Hoyt becoming the new DPS facility, the dorms, the list of positive things goes on and on.
Jeff,
Long time, no see. You talk about “luxury” expenses compared to “necessary” expenses and say that the money spent on renovations to the dorms (I’d prefer to call them residence halls) was “necessary”. Was it necessary? Do you know what they did? All of the renovations were aesthetic. Included were things such as: new carpet, paint, furniture, beds, lounge furniture, plasma screen televisions, etc. I find it contradictory that in one sentence you are saying that “students don’t care what campus looks like” (ie new student center) but the renovations to the RESIDENCE HALLS (to use your style of CAPITALIZATION) were “necessary”.
You said, “Cause it is against the law to move Students into an Unsafe, Unsanitary Living Conditions.” Nothing about the RESIDENCE HALLS, was unsafe or unsanitary or against the law. They just needed to be updated……because that’s what students want……and they PAY THE BILLS!
In addition, we don’t have two presidential residences anymore. The previous presidential residence is operated by the Housing Department and is actually rented out, generating income.
Sitedad, you can’t drop Jeff. It’s quite entertaining to read his posts and try to make sense of what he’s trying to say. Bravo, Jeff.
Jeff, you forgot to mention in your tirade the “luxury” new police station being built and the “luxury” new windows on the West side of Bowen Field House. I think the new police station is “necessary” and the new windows were paid through a donation the athletics (I could be wrong on that one). Just thought I’d put them on your rant radar.
Not to mention the new grass seeding being done today. Weeds and dirt look fine to me..don’t know why we need to waste money on grass seed……why even mow the grass? Imagine how much money we could save..
Brad, I’m with you on not cutting the grass. I think we should stop sprinkling it too. I suggest free range goats. We already have sea gulls, geese and squirrels on campus, why not a goat?
How about eliminating toilet paper. BYOTP! Just think how much we would save.