(02-02-2018 10:24 AM)Ken Barna Wrote:  Dear Friends,
While I agree with what has been said up to this point in the discussion, but the real "bogey man" is the State of Michigan Legislature and Governor, who have cut funding to higher education. Here's an idea that someone mentioned. Give no aid to U-M and MSU, and use the funds they would have received, and give that money to the other public universities in the state. Do it for one year. U-M has an eleven billion dollar endowment. They could afford to pay for every student's tuition for one year, and it would only take about $50 or $60 million out of their endowment. They make so much money from the sale of U-M merchandise and their athletic programs, they probably would be able to make a big chunk of that back in a given year.

Yes, Ken. Very true. Public universities used to around get 50% of their budget from state legislatures... now you are lucky if you get 20%. Story is the same across the country.

Unfortunately, I don't see that trend changing anytime soon. So universities need to be realistic about building out other revenue sources, like their donor base.