By THOMAS J. HAAS
There has been much discussion recently about public higher education and the state's obligation to make it available to Michigan's citizens. There is no doubt about this obligation because it is spelled out in the Michigan Constitution.
The words are unambiguous: "The legislature shall appropriate moneys to maintain" the state's public universities. Those words follow the Preamble, which confirms the importance of education, "the means for which shall forever be encouraged."
"Shall appropriate" and "forever." That is what our Constitution says about higher education.
Leaders in the state recognized that this compact leads to mutual gain -- an educated population results in economic vitality. Look to the states that surround us. Those with higher numbers of college graduates are more prosperous.
The facts are clear. The way out of our economic trouble is to educate the next generation of entrepreneurs and inventors and keep them in Michigan. Henry Ford, Billy Durant, Walter Chrysler, Anna Bissell, Dan Gerber, Fred Meijer, Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos are just a few of the men and women whose business success made Michigan prosperous. No business leader wants to locate a company in a state that doesn't offer stable educational opportunity.
Let me also set the record straight about my testimony to the state Senate. I was not asking for more money for Grand Valley (although our students surely deserve it). Rather, I was asking for a rational and sustainable funding model that will enable our public colleges and universities to admit additional Michigan residents to the advanced study that is required of today's workforce.
The state's public universities take seriously the Constitutional requirement that we account to the public for our spending. When adjusted for inflation, the cost to run our state's universities about matches the rise in the consumer price index. What has changed most is who pays the bill. Over the last decade the state has steadily shifted university operating costs from taxpayers to students. More than any other factor, this is what has caused tuition to rise.
At Grand Valley, as a result of an efficient, effective and committed faculty and staff, our cost of operation per student is about $2,000 a year below the median for public universities. We have doubled the number of graduates in the past 10 years while increasing enrollment by around 40 percent. We are proud of our partnership with Northwestern Michigan College, which allows us to serve more Michigan students.
Many members of the state Legislature attended one of Michigan's public universities. They were able to do so because their parents and grandparents created and sustained the best collection of public universities in the United States.
For 173 years our state has made higher education an important priority. The question our elected leaders face today is whether they will make it 174. The next generation is counting on them to decide wisely.
About the author: Thomas J. Haas is president of Grand Valley State University. Haas has been a tenured faculty member, department chair, dean, vice president and president. He has a master's of science degree in chemistry and another in environmental health sciences, a master's in human resource management and a Ph.D. in chemistry. He is on the boards of the Grand Rapids Medical Education and Research Center, the Grand Rapids Economic Club and Spectrum Health Hospitals, among other groups.
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