Traverse City Record-Eagle

Our Views

June 27, 2012

Editorial: New bill is a baby step for higher education

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It's a drop in the bucket as these things go, but at least the water is headed in the right direction.

Gov. Rick Snyder on Monday signed a bill that will pump more than $300 million into 18 infrastructure projects at a number of Michigan colleges and universities.

Yes, that's a lot of money. But compared to the hundreds of millions the state has siphoned from higher education funding over the past decade, it hardly registers. And this is money for infrastructure, not general fund money to educate young people. However you cut it, this is still an investment in higher ed, and that's a good thing.

Among the projects: Wayne State University is getting $30 million to help build a biomedical research building; Northern Michigan University will get $25 million to replace Jamrich Hall; Gogebic Community College will get $750,000 for building renovations; Michigan State University will get $30 million for a bio-engineering facility; and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is in line for $30 million for renovations to the G.G. Brown Memorial Laboratory.

We're a long way from getting higher ed funding back where it belongs, but this is a step forward.

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