Dive Brief:
- Michigan is in the middle of multiple crises, including one in Detroit Public Schools and another in the City of Flint, creating obvious contenders for any extra money the state legislature can find in the 2016-17 budget.
- The Detroit Free Press reports, however, that the Michigan Association of State Universities is making its case to the governor, highlighting legislative policy priorities including increases for need-based student financial aid as well as operating support for public universities.
- The 15-member association is also calling on the legislature to support capital expenses at the state’s public universities, where only two projects have been authorized since 2010.
Dive Insight:
Budget crises are playing out in at least a handful of states across the nation, virtually ensuring higher education will get short shrift, and Michigan looks like it will be no exception. An entire city was poisoned by a public utility in the Flint water crisis and Detroit Public Schools teachers are staging sick-outs to protest their working conditions. The need in the higher education system is present and documented, but administrators there will have a hard time getting discretionary funding in the zero sum game of budget politics.
While Michigan looks to its 2016-17 fiscal year, Illinois legislators continue to debate the 2015-16 budget, which was due for approval in June. Chicago State University has declared financial exigency without revenue from the state and Eastern Illinois University has begun layoffs, with furloughs soon to follow. While average state funding for higher education is on a slow and steady rise, the pain is very real in pockets of the country.