1 The Crisis in Financing Public Higher Education–

As fall approaches, the headlines of newspapers across the state join the din of politicians complaining about the increases in tuition at public universities. “Tuition to soar for state undergraduate students, with increases of 12%, 13%, and 18 % respectively at UM, MSU, and WSU”. The Governor joins in, “These increases are unacceptable. Universities must figure out a way to streamline, to tighten their belts the way the state has done. ” And parents and students worry about whether they will be able to afford a college education. In Michigan, a state cursed with a weak economy, a dysfunctional state budget, and a state government that puts higher education at the bottom of its priority list, this feeding frenzy has become an annual occurrence. Of course it is rarely mentioned that the proposed tuition increases are far below what would be necessary to compensate for the loss of state support, roughly 25 % over the past several years. The cacophony of complaints also ignores the fact that the net tuition cost born by most families has actually decreased over the past decade. But newspapers and politicians adhere to the same dictum: “Never let the truth stand in the way of a good story…or a possible vote!” The real issue here is way that public policies and market pressures are reshaping the relationship among the cost, price, and value of a college education. While perhaps not as attention-getting as a politician’s charge of price-gouging in public higher education, it is important to distinguish myth from reality to understand the current plight of public higher education in America