oneofsix

Mon, May 23, 2011 : 4:45 p.m.

AA.com sure does link to many stories, researched and written by their former colleague, David Jesse. Too bad you let him slip from your fingers. He seems to be doing very well for himself now at the Freep. At least his journalistic talent didn't leave the state of Michigan...

clownfish

Mon, May 23, 2011 : 11:45 a.m.

Funny, US business have trillions in savings, but many calling for UM to pony up are the same people calling for more business tax cuts.

Marshall Applewhite

Mon, May 23, 2011 : 4:16 a.m.

I really get a kick out of the ignorance of some posters here. The endowment isn't just a giant pool of money that can be used for any purpose. Most of that money has been donated by families or trusts for specific purposes, and them or their heirs can request the money back if it isn't used for the designated purpose. In summation, you have no chance of getting your paws on this money. People donating to the endowment don't care about your "demands". You may now return to your regularly scheduled whining.

trespass

Mon, May 23, 2011 : 12:53 a.m.

The Provost announced that the University will increase out of state students from 35% to 39% to make up for some of the loss of state appropriations. That is about 1,000 spots for in state students that will be lost and probably never regained. Many of those students will be foreign students who will not benefit the state or our country but will only benefit the UM budget. The state legislature used to prevent this type of thing but where are they now that we need them?

mojo

Mon, May 23, 2011 : 12:40 a.m.

There are times that an long term asset (and endowment fund) should pay some short term bills. Given the state of the Michigan economy - and the road to nowhere that that State has been on for almost a decade - I would state that the endowment should pay down some of the tuition increases - the bill is too high. . Salaries across the entire state have dropped by 15-25% - tuition should come down too.

Awakened

Sun, May 22, 2011 : 11:27 p.m.

As I read it.... According to U of M's own budget they anticipate re-investing over 150 million profit back into the endowment while using much less than that for various other expenses. These seem to be related to scholarships and research. The total would suggest that U of M was anticipating about a 4% return. This is a very conservative estimate for such a large fund. <a href="http://sitemaker.umich.edu/obpinfo/um_budget_detail" rel='nofollow'>http://sitemaker.umich.edu/obpinfo/um_budget_detail</a>

bruceae

Sun, May 22, 2011 : 11:23 p.m.

Every year about this time U of M says they are raising tuition twice the rate of inflation and the newspapers all write the same story about all the money they have. All they do is change the amount but the story's the same. What you people don't get is that U of M could care less about what the cost of tuition does to people. They get 7 applications for enrollment and only select 1 of 7 to be included in the freshman class. So if you can't afford it they aren't the least bit worried because there are 6 more people in line behind you. Only when they can't fill that feashman class will they worry about cost.

Terry Maynard

Sun, May 22, 2011 : 5:50 p.m.

If all the State Universities have over 3.5 Billion in reserve, why is there any tuition increase or any increase in dorm fees? Its time that the University of Michigan gives back to the People of this state who are struggling to meet mortgage Payments , can feed their Children without choosing to eat or pay the Mortgage. All the Universities will follwo what U of M does. Give back to the People, remember without Students you would not operate. No Students , no football, hockey, or any other sports. Its time our Governor and the Senate and House, condem any Mihigan University raises any tuition, fees, dorm fees, parking, book etc: Create a law that they ( Universities) must come before the Governing body of our State to ask for a raise, they must then show a true need to geet more Money! I know this is a pipe dream, but the buck has to stop now.

John A2

Sun, May 22, 2011 : 5:26 p.m.

I knew they are hanging onto a ton of money but I didn't know it was that much. The U of M can easily afford their own fire department, or support a few of the city's. They still want to raise tuition 7% next semester too. They have plenty of cushion to land on if they were to go into rescission. The big ten universities have been and will be rescission proof anyway. The money can be used for other interests like a fire department that is needed now more than ever.

Brian

Sun, May 22, 2011 : 5:22 p.m.

When money s taken from the endowment and investment funds to pay for current year general expenses it takes away from the future. We should be glad those funds are there otherwise it would be much worse for students and families. Some of the interest income is used to pay for financial aid so students and their families can afford college after this last decade of cut after cut. It also used to play for building costs and program costs so that students will have opportunities that would not have existed if the money is diminished. If those funds are used to pay for single year cuts, every year, where will that money be found? Not the state that's for sure! And what opportunities will students and the state lose as a result? One ofthe bright spots in Michigan's economy is higher education. We should be supporting it. Rather than finding fault at the universities for having reserves we should be thanking them for having the foresight to plan ahead and make sacrifices now for the future. A virtue the state has lacked in great measure.

trespass

Sun, May 22, 2011 : 4:56 p.m.

Part of the $1.56 billion in the UM hospital budget is designated to build a new University Hospital. Do we reallly need to build a new hospital after all the other recent building projects (Cancer center, Cardiovascular center, Mott, BMSB, Pathology).

trespass

Sun, May 22, 2011 : 4:32 p.m.

UM has $1.8 billion in unrestricted reserves, more than a full year of the general fund budget. Why not look at what the UM plans to spend that money on and find the $50 million in state funding cuts without raising tuition? Maybe President Coleman would like to spend it on her own deferred compensation (an additional $100,000 per year in her new contract) or on compensation for other administrators (Campus police chief is the highest paid police chief in the state)(They just made a new administrative position at Shanghai Jiao Tong University for former state senator Pam Burns). The Republican philosophy has been to &quot;starve the beast&quot; by not raising taxes but the beast never goes hungry, they just play games with the books.

Rob

Sun, May 22, 2011 : 4:24 p.m.

Just to add a little context, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that in 2008-09 (the latest date they have data for), U of M had an endowment of just over six billion dollars, the seventh highest in the country. For public institutions, it trailed on the the University of Texas SYSTEM. In contrast, Eastern has a $35 million endowment and Oakland has $39 million. For these institutions, pulling from these funds to shore up budgets in the short term could be be a financial disaster in the long term. Money that's &quot;borrowed&quot; from endowments doesn't tend to get paid back, and schools rely on investment income for operating expenses.