By Any Measure, Michigan Scrimps On Higher Education

While we consider Gov. Rick Snyder’s forthcoming budget message, we might want to look at some facts underlying our economy.

• The (persistently) bad news: Since 2008, Lansing has slashed support for public colleges and universities by 21.5 percent.

• The (sort-of) good news: We aren’t the worst. In fact, we rank only 11th among states in cutting support for higher education. The top cutters in order were Arizona (down 36.6 percent), New Hampshire (down 35.7 percent) and Louisiana (down 31.2 percent.)

For some years, I thought Michigan topped the list of the states cutting support for universities; it’s nice to know we’re only 11th.