Coleman: No midyear tuition increase, come what may

Updated 10:00 AM February 28, 2005

Coleman: No midyear tuition increase, come what may

By Laurel Thomas Gnagey

President Mary Sue Coleman said the University will not raise tuition for the second half of the academic year, regardless of how lawmakers act to resolve a shortfall in the state budget for the current fiscal year.

"We believe it would not be fair to our students and their families, at this late date, to institute an unexpected midyear tuition increase," Coleman told the Board of Regents Feb. 17. "We are more than three-quarters of the way through this academic calendar; and in fact, our students are already done with their winter semester midterm exams. So we will not recommend a midyear increase to you this year, no matter how the situation resolves in Lansing."

Coleman's statement laid out the University's stance on an executive order issued last week by Gov. Jennifer Granholm that called for an immediate $30 million cut to higher education as a means to help resolve a $376 million shortfall in the current fiscal year.

At the time Coleman was making her remarks to regents, Senate Appropriations Committee members voted down the governor's executive order. The action occurred just hours after their House counterparts unanimously had approved the plan. The action of the Senate committee effectively kills the current executive order, but lawmakers still have to work out a compromise plan with the governor for dealing with the shortfall.

In rejecting the plan, the majority of the Senate Appropriations Committee members said the executive order broke a promise made last year when the state restored some funding to universities that held tuition increases to below 2.8 percent.

When setting tuition rates in July, the University left open the option of an increase for the second half of the academic year if the state was not able to fulfill its commitment. Coleman said the University will use funding that was restored by the state, rather than ask for a midyear tuition increase.

"We had hoped to quickly direct those dollars to academic priorities in areas that most need support, but instead we will reserve that funding in case we have to give it back to the state to deal with yet another rescission," she said.

Coleman reiterated that she intends to be very involved in the process as lawmakers debate how to deal with the shortfall and set budget priorities for FY2006.

"During last year's budget cycle I said quite clearly that we will not be able to sustain both this continued decline of state support in combination with artificially restrained tuition," she said. "It simply cannot work over the long term if we are to maintain the quality our students, our faculty and our alumni expect.

"I want to reiterate the commitment I made last year: we will not compromise our academic excellence. The University's core quality must be our most important priority, and this will be our guiding principle as we move into this year's budget planning cycle."

Coleman: No midyear tuition increase, come what may

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