More background on college affordability hurdles

By Judy Putnam via Center for Michigan

Michigan's economic woes have hit state support for higher education hard this decade. The state sliced per-pupil support by more than 16 percent between 2000-01 and 2007-08, dropping from an average of $6,853 to $5,719, according to the House Fiscal Agency, a nonpartisan legislative budget analysis group.

During the same time period, per pupil tuition revenue (including out-of-state and graduate-level tuition) jumped 78 percent, from $6,367 to $11,339.

Overall, total revenue generated by tuition and state funding grew by 3.7 percent a year. That’s less than 3.9 percent inflation for the period as measured by Higher Education Price Index, an alternative measure of inflation geared to higher education, according to the House Fiscal Agency. But students shouldered all of the increase plus more to make up for the loss in state support.

National studies rank Michigan below average in affordability.

Read more background on college affordability hurdles