Letter from VP Kathy Wilbur
Welcome to the Government Relations Web site for Central Michigan University. Here, you can learn about important state budget and legislative issues facing CMU and how you can help advocate for CMU.
The executive office’s budget recommendations were issued in early February for fiscal year 2008-09. This suggested budget includes an average 3% increase for higher education institutions. In fact, under this proposed plan, CMU and some other institutions would receive only a 2.3% increase over current-year funding. However, I hesitate to qualify this as a funding “increase” when CMU continues to try to recoup the almost $10 million that has been cut from its state appropriation over the past few years.
These dollars would be distributed to all 15 public four-year institutions according to a formula that looks at completion rates in specific disciplines such as math and science (though not degrees granted), university success in commercializing research and percentage of students receiving Pell Grants. Although this administration has called for doubling the number of college graduates in Michigan—a goal that CMU wholeheartedly endorses—this proposed formula includes neither an enrollment growth component nor a recommendation for equitable per-student funding.
Although CMU has many questions and concerns about the proposed budget, it was pleased that the proposed budget is in one higher education funding bill (as opposed to two bills, which was recommended last year). This decision is a triumph for higher education in the state, as CMU knows that all 15 of the state’s public universities can work together in each of our different ways to help advance Michigan’s future and develop generations of Michiganians for success in our global society.
I thank the CMU alumni, who were instrumental in successfully fighting this proposal in 2007-08. We could not have triumphed without the very important support from the alumni who wrote letters, sent e-mails and made phone calls to various Legislators and elected officials around the state. This victory for higher education shows the strength of the CMU family.
The next step in the process lies with the Legislature. Following hearings with all the universities in late March, the Senate reported out a higher education funding bill. It recommended a 3% across-the-board funding bill for all 15 four-year public universities. House hearings begin April 18, and the House expects to conclude deliberations on this bill by late May.
Michigan’s students would realize an even greater benefit should the Legislature enact a policy of equitable per-student funding. By investing equally in all students regardless of which institution they choose to attend, the state would strengthen Michigan’s diverse higher education landscape. Students would then have the option to attend the institution that fits their personal and educational needs without sacrificing a fair and equitable level of state funding.
Please write or e-mail our state’s elected officials and express your support for CMU and for unified, equitably funded public higher education in Michigan. Your communication with the state’s leaders will help influence decisions and preserve the quality of our state’s public higher education. The sample letter on this Web site provides information that will be useful in your correspondence.
Sincerely,
Kathy Wilbur
Vice President for Governmental Relations & Public Affairs