U-M leaders testify before Senate subcommittee

At a May 16 hearing before the state Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education Appropriations, President Mary Sue Coleman highlighted for lawmakers several steps the University has taken to cut costs in response to current and proposed reductions in state appropriations, and she addressed some of the challenges facing universities.

President Mary Sue Coleman appears before members of the Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education Appropriations. She and Chancellors Juan Mestas (U-M-Flint) and Daniel Little (U-M-Dearborn) detailed the impact a proposed 10 percent reduction in state aid would have on the three U-M campuses. (Photo by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services)

"Higher education around this country is facing a 'perfect storm,'" she said in the hearing at the Ford Library. "What are the winds that threaten our well-being? They are: the economic recession, the growing need for student financial aid, the dramatic increase in student applications, the proliferation of costly federal regulations regarding medical care and research, and the need to focus our energy on major policy issues, such as homeland security. Despite all these complex forces, it is critically important for our state to keep higher education as a top funding priority."

U-M-Flint Chancellor Juan Mestas's remarks followed a similar theme. "These are not the best of times," he told lawmakers. "We are in an uncomfortable position: You have to reduce drastically the state allocation to public universities; we have to implement deep cuts and raise tuition by more than we would like. The unfortunate result is a weakening of higher education at a time when the state needs a strong higher education system to help us get out of the economic slump."

U-M-Dearborn Chancellor Daniel Little said his campus will continue to look for ways to trim its budget and boost revenues through increased admissions. "In the interim, we will continue to grow and thereby preserve the quality of the University during this difficult period," he said. "We will weather these cuts without limiting access or reducing the quality of our programs."

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