LANSING – The Michigan higher education budget approved Thursday by a House subcommittee would decrease Governor Rick Snyder’s recommendation for the universities by $14.7 million and increase the cap on how much universities can raise tuition.
Rep. Michael McCready (R-Bloomfield Hills), chair of the House Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee, said he would prefer a budget closer to the governor’s recommendation in terms of overall funding, but he was given a target for the budget that was lower.
The increased cap would allow Michigan’s four-year universities to raise tuition rates by 4 percent from the 3.2 percent it is in current law. Snyder had proposed a tuition cap of 2.8 percent with a 2 percent increase in the base appropriations.
The subcommittee approved HB 4103 on a party-line vote with a 1 percent increase in university operations funding, a $13.7 million reduction from the executive recommendation, which called for a 2 percent increase.
The Senate Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee also met on Thursday, and approved a budget unanimously in SB 123 that hewed to Snyder’s 2 percent increase to university operations and the 2.8 percent limit on tuition increases to receive that increase.
The House bill would distribute the increase according to the revised performance formula proposed by the executive budget, but increases the tuition cap to 4 percent or $400, whichever one is greater. Snyder recommended holding tuition hikes to 2.8 percent.
McCready said the House’s lower increase comes from the belief that there shouldn’t be a tuition cap at all, and the market should dictate tuition levels.
“I tried to propose something we all could come to agreement on,” McCready said of the tuition language and negotiations with the House, Senate and governor’s office. “It’s still in negotiations. We’ll see where it ends up. I am hopeful it will be higher than the 2.8 that was recommended by the governor and maybe the 3.2 that is in current law.”
The House also reduces $700,000 from the governor’s recommended increase for AgBioResearch, enabling those funds to be redirected to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for fruit tree research.
Rep. Sam Singh (D-East Lansing), minority vice chair of the subcommittee, offered an amendment to increase the operations budget back to the 2 percent the governor proposed. The amendment was defeated.
Singh also withdrew an amendment that would have provided language on reporting requirements from universities on sexual assault programs. Singh said he will continue to work with the chair on the issue to get to agreeable language.
Singh said although he voted against the bill on Thursday, he believes the budget can be improved.
“I know it is just a first step. I am very hopeful with your leadership and other leadership we will get back to numbers we all agree are needed,” he said.
Rep. Jon Hoadley (D-Kalamazoo) also offered amendments that were defeated, one of which would have removed boilerplate language on human embryonic stem cell research, which the governor removed but both the House and Senate retained. The language requires the universities conducting the research to report to the Department of Community Health.
“That gets really political for us,” McCready said on why he voted no on removing language. “I look more at the economic factor of the state, I’m not really up to speed on the social aspects.”
Although the Senate subcommittee unanimously approved the budget bill, Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. (D-East Lansing) noted that he had some reservations generally about using School Aid Fund money for purposes other than K-12 education.
“I have a philosophical problem of using school aid money for something other than K-12, but I also have philosophical problem with not funding higher education,” Hertel said. “I will vote for this proposal in the spirit of compromise and working together.”
In being identical to the governor’s proposal, the Senate budget proposal (SB 123) includes a 2 percent increase for university operations funded by the General Fund and maintains the increased ongoing appropriations from $2,446,200 to $5,160,000 (entirely from the SAF) for the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System rate cap. The proposal also sets tuition restraint at 2.8 percent (though the Senate did not concur with revisions to fee calculations).
Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker (R-Lawton), chair of the subcommittee, said it has been her personal mission to restore the higher education budget to 2011 levels ever since the governor proposed a 15 percent cut to the universities in his first year. She said the state has again found itself in a “difficult” situation but that she was pleased the governor recommended a “modest increase.”
“I want to make sure we are making wise investments and asking our universities to provide results,” Schuitmaker said.
Schuitmaker acknowledged that some had sought a higher tuition cap but reiterated her goal was to have college be more affordable with every year she chairs the budget.
In terms of boilerplate language, the Senate maintained current-year provisions on budget transparency and on the state tuition grant program (of the latter, the governor had made numerous changes, especially on reporting requirements). The Senate also restored provisions the governor had removed with regard to discouraged instruction activity, GI Education Enhancement Program reporting and more.
Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) also offered an amendment to the House budget that was defeated to fully fund the Indian tuition waiver. He said it is a commitment from the state that it should meet.
Irwin said universities are the state’s most important economic development priority and said the increase provided in the House budget was not enough.
“I think it is fair to say I am not in love with this budget,” Irwin said. “I am not even in like with this.”
The House bill concurs with the executive on the other items within the budget. In total, the House bill is $1.53 billion ($1.22 billion General Fund), a 0.7 percent increase from current year (0.9 percent General Fund).
The governor’s recommendation and Senate budget bill total $1.54 billion ($1.24 billion General Fund).
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