LANSING – Lean times for state government have forced Michigan’s 15 public universities to grapple with reduced funding, but the lack of money has not triggered major cutbacks in the academic programs that the schools offer.
Information provided by most of the universities indicates only a handful of schools – Eastern Michigan, Lake Superior State, Michigan Technological and Northern Michigan – have eliminated actual majors or areas of study from their universities. But in some of those cases, the decision to scrap a major stemmed from low student interest, not a lack of funds. Further, universities are gradually phasing out these programs as existing students complete their degrees, an indication that the moves are not primarily budget related.
At several schools, universities have reduced the number of sections for a particular course, resulting in larger class sizes.
Generally, universities have looked to find efficiencies outside of the academic area: reducing support staff, putting off maintenance, instituting hiring freezes, allowing early retirement, curbing or eliminating staff raises, requiring higher co-pays for health care from employees and putting off computer replacement. And they have in most cases raised tuition at levels higher than the rate of inflation.
State cuts have totaled 15.2 percent over the last year and a half, but that figure will drop to 12.2 percent if all universities, as expected, avoid mid-year tuition increases for the current year and keep tuition increases for the 2004-05 school year to the rate of inflation.
University officials have warned at each of the four rounds of budget cuts – in 2002 and three times in 2003 – that reductions in state aid would harm the quality of their academic programs. Even though few areas of study have been eliminated to this point, officials say they have wrung all the efficiency they can and will in many cases be forced to cut from academics if there are further cuts.
“The number one priority has been classroom learning,” said Mike Silverthorn, Central Michigan University spokesperson. “We wanted to keep the cuts as far away from the classroom as we could.”
But it is “highly likely” that CMU will be forced to cut into academic programs in the 2004-05 school year, decisions that will soon be made by the university’s board, Mr. Silverthorn said.
Officials said just because schools have avoided drastic cuts in academics does not mean they have survived the reductions unscathed.
“(The cuts) affect the delivery of services and the environment in which people learn,” said Matt Kurz, Western Michigan University spokesperson. “Often what lies beneath the surface has a more significant impact than what is apparent.”
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