Michigan Senate to mull millions in higher education cuts next week

Michigan's universities and community colleges stand to lose millions under Senate budget proposals - and that could factor into higher tuition for students around Washtenaw County.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved budget proposals Wednesday that would cost the University of Michigan $10.2 million and Eastern Michigan University $2.5 million next school year. Washtenaw Community College would lose $380,400.

The proposed 3.1 percent reductions to higher education and community college budgets would save the cash-strapped state almost $50 million.

"We're going to work very hard to keep the tuition increase as low as we possibly can," EMU President Susan Martin said Wednesday. "We're a public university and we're very mindful that citizens are really struggling."

Eastern Michigan University President Susan Martin.

File photo | AnnArbor.com

Martin said she had hoped the Senate would embrace Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposal to keep higher education funding level for the 2011 fiscal year, which begins Oct 1. She's not expecting that to be the case with the Republican-led Senate votes on the measures next week.

"It's unfortunate," Martin said.

Any final decisions about the state budget bills are months off, but the universities are in the thick of planning their finances for next school year.

Tuition at WCC will rise next year, although community colleges are funded differently than the state's public universities.

About half of WCC's revenue comes from property tax revenue, which has fallen, said Steven Hardy, vice president for finance at WCC.

Fewer property tax dollars, combined with rising costs for retirement benefits and the potential of a cut to state funding means students can expect to pay more than the current $73 per credit hour when they enroll in classes at WCC in the fall.

The WCC Board of Trustees will vote next week on tuition and fee increases, Hardy said.

EMU and U-M finalize their budgets in June. U-M officials were tight-lipped about that process Wednesday.

"The Provost's office is working on the budget now, meeting with deans and other officials from across the campus to develop a proposal that will be presented to the regents in June," U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said.

In-state freshman at U-M's largest undergraduate school - the College of Literature, Science and the Arts - now pay $11,659 in tuition and fees. An in-state undergraduate pays $8,377 in tuition and fees to attend EMU.

Granholm had proposed holding the 15 public and 28 community college budgets steady for the state budget cycle that would affect the 2010-2011 school year, but slashing need-based tuition grants for private college students, a move that would cost some students attending Concordia University $1,600. The Senate wants to restore the $31 million tuition grant program for private college students.

Wrangling over funding has only just begun.

"As rightly reported, the governor’s executive budget recommendation maintains higher education spending at current levels," Granholm's spokeswoman Liz Boyd said in a written statement to AnnArbor.com "We know that education is the key to Michigan’s economic recovery and so it is important that we invest in the full spectrum of education."

Tony Stamas, R-Midland, who chairs the Michigan Senate Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee, did not return a phone call from AnnArbor.com Wednesday. His committee heard testimony this month from Martin and U-M President Mary Sue Coleman on the Senate's higher education budget proposal,

Juliana Keeping covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter