Michigan’s public universities are raising tuition price this fall as they grapple with rising costs and years of flat or uncertain state funding.
All 10 of the state’s largest public four-year universities have approved increases for the coming school year, but many say they are expanding financial aid to soften the impact for students.
Below is a list of the percent increases in tuition cost for undergraduate in-state students at Michigan’s top 10 largest public 4-year institutions.
- The University of Michigan: 3%
- Michigan State University: 4.37% for new freshman, 3.99% overall
- Wayne State University: 4%
- Grand Valley State University: 4%
- Western Michigan University: 4%
- Oakland University: 3.9%
- Central Michigan University: 4%
- Eastern Michigan University: 2.5%
- Ferris State University: 3.7%
- The University of Michigan - Dearborn: 3.9%
State funding stays stagnant, inflation and costs rise
After a budget fight that at one point included a proposal to cut more than half of state funding to U-M and MSU, lawmakers passed a final state budget in early July.
Mia Murphy, chief policy officer at the Michigan Association of State Universities, said universities' fiscal years begin on July 1st, so campuses often have to set budgets before they know what the state will allocate for them.
“You get a governor's proposed budget that says one thing,” Murphy said. “The House has a proposal that says another. The Senate is then the third version, and then you don't get your final version of that budget until after July starts, and so the fiscal year has started for universities”
State funding for Michigan’s public universities has fallen sharply over time — from about 70% of operating revenues in 1979 to about 22% today.
“They so often say the only solution possible is, ‘Well, if we don't have enough money going forward, students will just pay their increased bill."Maddie Hanes, MSU student body president.
This year’s budget kept base funding flat for a second year in a row. It did, however, include a one-time funding boost, but universities say they can’t count those dollars into their long-term budgets.
At the same time, consumers across the country are dealing with higher costs driven by inflation, energy and oil prices, and more expensive imports. Murphy said universities are feeling those pressures too — just at a much larger scale.
“They're buying a power plant's worth of fuel and trying to provide food for residence halls for a bunch of pretty hungry 18 to 24 year olds,” Murphy said. “The cost pressures hit us too, and that's why we look to the state, and we're going to keep looking to the state to adequately fund our universities.”
"Every year I'm here is definitely another year that I know that I'm seeing that price tag go up.”
Michigan State University is facing a $12 million general fund budget deficit, driven by state funding cuts, climbing operational costs, and a recent decline in total enrollment.
Maddie Hanes is a rising senior at MSU and the student body president. She said she has noticed cost-cutting measures — like a 9% decrease in overall general fund spending — but hasn’t seen any of those savings roll down to students.
“We're still seeing tuition go up while the efforts that they're saying are supposed to be helping students — we're not really reaping any of those benefits,” Hanes said. “I am paying for my college by myself, so every year I'm here is definitely another year that I know that I'm seeing that price tag go up.”
She said increasing tuition shouldn't be the default solution for cash strapped colleges, and that she fears that students from low-income backgrounds will be increasingly squeezed.
“Universities boast these great rates of impoverished students and students from low economic backgrounds that come, but if it continues on this route, they're not going to be able to boast things like that," Hanes said.
Despite the tuition hikes, some experts said college is more affordable than headlines suggest. According to one report, state, federal, and institutional aid have caused the cost of a Michigan public university education as a percentage of family income to drop significantly.
Jamie Jacobs, deputy director of the Michigan College Access Network, said sticker price and actual cost are not the same thing.
“For just the average person who's taking in information, the assumption would be the cost is rising — it will cost me more than it did before,” Jacob said. “That is a fair assumption to be making. But it's not actually accurate.”
Editor's note: The University of Michigan holds Michigan Public's broadcast license.
