LANSING – Michigan’s 15 public universities will continue efforts to train Michigan residents and provide them employment in Michigan, but they need more state funding to keep up those efforts, the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan said in an editorial Tuesday.
Thomas Hass, president of Grand Valley State University and chair of the Presidents Council, said in a letter to the Oakland Press that all of the universities would continue graduating more students and working with Michigan companies to be sure those students have jobs in the state. The schools also vowed to keep costs down and increase financial aid to keep direct costs for students down.
Hass noted that the universities, between 2005 and 2007, increased the number of bachelor’s degrees issued by 6 percent.
“But Michigan’s higher educational institutions need a partner if we are to continue our successes,” Hass said. “As the state embarks on development of what will be a very difficult 2009-10 budget, the state must at least maintain its current level of support, if not increase per-student support for higher education.”
State assistance, per student, dropped 1.3 percent between 2005 and 2007, he said.
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