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University President George Ross to state legislators: Invest in higher education

By Maria Amante on March 31, 2011 11:16 am in Administration, Budget, Politics / 9 comments

 

University President George Ross testified before Michigan lawmakers Wednesday and urged them to invest in the state’s higher education.

Before the state House and Senate Appropriations Higher Education subcommittees, Ross spoke on Central Michigan University’s budget in response to Gov. Rick Snyder’s recently proposed 23.3-percent cut in funding to CMU, and said public universities need to be funded fairly and equitably.

“If I go back 30 years, 75 percent of our budget was funded by state appropriations,” Ross said. “If the proposed cut to the budget (gets approved), then we will have less than 15 percent.”

Ross said the university has been making cuts in response to dwindling state funding since 2008, and highlighted several places the university has found efficiencies in order to make reductions. He said the university has saved $21 million by making self-imposed cuts.

He also said CMU had a $2 billion impact on the state’s economy.

“Ninety-six percent of our undergraduates come from the state of Michigan,” Ross said. ”We contribute to the state (of) Michigan mightily.”

In an interview with Central Michigan Life, Ross said it remains to be seen if his testimony will effect decisions on higher education funding.

“I do believe there will be a healthy set of debate both in the House and Senate,”  Ross said. “It’s not just higher education (facing cuts), there are a number of highly significant changes. I credit the govenror trying to balance our state budget, and there will be … some changes before we get a final budget.”

All 15 public university presidents have testified before the committee. Ross was joined on Wednesday by the Presidents of Wayne State and Western Michigan Universities.

 

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Soto/100000683440478 Mike Soto

    I say let the Universities cut a bit more for 2 years giving us a solid bottom and then at that time as the economy recovers we can then begin to move forward… Also I recommend that 12th grade is eliminated and 11th grade becomes optional let students get a head start in their college education. if we eliminated 12th and made 11th grade optional then we would be able to invest in early childhood development so students would begin school at age 3 vs age 5

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Soto/100000683440478 Mike Soto

    I say let the Universities cut a bit more for 2 years giving us a solid bottom and then at that time as the economy recovers we can then begin to move forward… Also I recommend that 12th grade is eliminated and 11th grade becomes optional let students get a head start in their college education. if we eliminated 12th and made 11th grade optional then we would be able to invest in early childhood development so students would begin school at age 3 vs age 5

  • A.Elizabeth

    High schoolers have the option for dual enrollment and Advanced Placement classes. Dual Enrollment allows them to either attend the university they are looking at and receive credit OR attend a local school and transfer those credits. Advanced Placement garners a student college credit as long as they meet their Universities’ specified score on the test at the end of the school year. I was able to enter CMU with 6 credits, I call that a head start on my college career.

    Starting school at age 3?! Seriously?

  • Michmediaperson

    Wonder if George told them how much of a pay raise the CMU president’s position has skyrocketed from 2006 to 2010 while millions of Michigan taxpayers either lost their jobs or took paycuts. Did you explain why CMU had the biggest tuition jump in the last 4 years, 50.1 percent!
    Where did the $$$ go? If you’ve been cutting $21 million, then why the 50.1 percent hike in tuition? The biggest of all state universities in Michigan.

    George is lucky I wasn’t one of those legislators sitting across from him. I would had him squirming in his chair. 30 years ago, the CMU administration and faculty were pinching pennies. We didn’t have the reckless spending like today.

    Nice try George. But, shortly you will have to cut about 15-20 million dollars. Granholm and her union pals are gone. Sheriff Snyder is laying down the law.

  • Anonymous

    “30 years ago, the CMU administration and faculty were pinching pennies. We didn’t have the reckless spending like today.”

    Right…and what did that do for the university? Until about a decade ago, CMU had an embarassing reputation as one of Michigan’s most prominent party schools, and because of improvements in infrastructure, the addition of new degree offerings, marketing campaigns aimed at increasing diversity on campus, etc., our image is no longer as tainted as it once was.

    Just because university administrators of the past failed future CMU students, it is no more acceptable for the state of Michigan to continue to disproportionately distribute money for higher education. Dr. Ross is 100% correct in his fight for equitable per-pupil funding.

  • Anonymous

    First of all, past administrations DID fail future classes when it admitted students who would rather hold “end of the world parties” than excel academically into the university. Instead of demand academic excellence of its students and faculty, they decided that it was more important to keep tuition costs low, stagnate the growth of university programs, and eventually, depreciate the value of a CMU diploma.

    You are correct, CMU’s tuition rate has gone up 50% since 2006 (each class unfortunately costs about $1000, not $450), but that can be attributed to the CMU Promise, which required significant tuition increases yearly in order to be sustained…that is why it ended. But CMU’s tuition rate is still less than that of UofM and MSU.

    What you really should think about is why applications to CMU reached record-breaking numbers since 2006. Clearly, they are doing something right. The fact that enrollment has only gone up 1% means absolutely nothing–it just means that admissions has become more selective in the prosess.

    And THANK YOU for bringing up the other degree offerings which bring more funding to competing Michigan universities. I wholeheartedly agree, which is why I would like to see the administration continue adding programs to serve the ignored northern region of Michigan. The new medical school will help, but I would also like to see increased emphasis on existing programs, such as TEPD, BCA, and computer sciences…all of which have garnered CMU national recognition in the past.

    Lastly, I agree with you that the administration (not every CMU employee, as many are paid minimum wages), should accept a pay freeze, if not a pay cut. CMU has far too many “temporary faculty,” because it refuses to pay tenured professors an acceptable figure. If Dr. Ross is genuine in his fight for equitable per-pupil funding, he will bring in more PhD’s and elevate CMU’s reputation as a research institution.

  • Anonymous

    It has gone up because of the CMU Promise, which boosted tuition higher than usual, but then locked it in for five years. But once it ended, the Trustees (who are the real culprits in raising tuition) didn’t reduce tuition back to “normal” levels. It was nothing but an elaborate shell game.

  • Anonymous

    It has gone up because of the CMU Promise, which boosted tuition higher than usual, but then locked it in for five years. But once it ended, the Trustees (who are the real culprits in raising tuition) didn’t reduce tuition back to “normal” levels. It was nothing but an elaborate shell game.

  • George Gipp

    Why is it when liberals talk about taking more of our money away from us and giving it to mismanaged, bloated, administrative-laden government organizations, they call it an “investment”?