Report: Higher education in Michigan hurting — from The Detroit News by Kim Kozlowski
Michigan’s declining investment in higher education is among the worst in the nation — making it difficult for students to get degrees and the state to recover from the poor economy, according to a report released Monday.
The first report of its kind by the Michigan League for Human Services found state aid and financial aid programs to Michigan’s 15 public universities declined by nearly 17 percent from 2002 to 2010. Meanwhile, undergraduate tuition for in-state residents during that same time period jumped 88 percent.
Funding for the state’s 28 community colleges, meanwhile, decreased 7 percent between 2002 and 2010 as tuition increased 40 percent — from an average of $54 to $76 a credit hour, the report showed.
The trends occurred as Michigan’s job market is moving away from manufacturing to a knowledge-based sector, and must be reversed, officials said.