Michigan is at an inflection point. In the years ahead, 42 of our state’s top 50 high-wage, high-demand jobs will require a bachelor’s degree or higher. Companies decide where to invest based on many factors; one of the biggest is a strong base of available talent. After decades of population decline, Michigan can’t expect to import that talent. We must grow it from within. And right now, we are falling behind.
As a Michigan native, a product of our public schools and the newly installed 14th president of Wayne State University, I have seen firsthand how public higher education can transform lives. Relative to a high school diploma, median wages rise 18% with an associate degree and more than 60% with a bachelor’s degree. Yet for too many Michigan families, this opportunity is slipping out of reach.
In 1979, the state covered 70% of the cost to attend a Michigan public university. Today, it covers just 22%. As the state has disinvested, our citizens and economy have suffered proportionally. Michigan now ranks last in the country in income growth over the past 25 years. We ranked ninth nationally for real median household income in 1999; we are now 35th.
This state budget cycle illustrates the problem. For the third straight year, no proposal on the table provides ongoing operations funding for Michigan’s public universities that would even keep up with inflation. These are not flat budgets. They are effective cuts, and they fall hardest on the students most likely to stay and build Michigan’s future — Michiganders who do not come from wealth, work hard, love this state and must stretch every penny. Instead of investing in them, we are exporting our future workforce to Midwestern and Southern competitors who figured out long ago that affordable higher education drives economic fortune.
Higher ed delivers
K-12 reform is essential. But if we want the next generation to stay and contribute to Michigan’s turnaround, correcting how we invest in higher education is just as critical.
The return is undeniable. Michigan’s 15 public universities generate nearly $45 billion in net new economic activity each year — almost 28 times the state’s $1.6 billion appropriation for university operations. Wayne State alone contributes $4.6 billion.
Our research universities also bring federal dollars home. Michigan taxpayers send billions to Washington each year. One of the most effective ways to recapture those dollars is through universities that compete nationally for research funding that supports jobs, innovation and discovery in our state.
We need state support
Wayne State’s role is distinctive. More than 215,000 of our graduates live and work across Michigan. Over 90% of our students come from Michigan, and 81% of our alumni stay in the state. We rank No. 1 in Michigan for social mobility — a powerful measure of our impact on the talent pipeline. And we do this as a top-tier research university whose discoveries fuel new treatments, new industries and high-skilled jobs.
That combination — research excellence paired with access for all Michiganders — positions us to supply the exact homegrown talent Michigan needs. But we cannot do it without sustained state support.
We should view our public universities as vital public resources — much like our Great Lakes or state parks — worthy of investment and stewardship. Talent is universal; opportunity should be as well. If we continue down the current path, public higher education that is accessible to all and a ladder for everyday citizens will cease to exist in our state.
We all want a stronger, more prosperous Michigan. To achieve it, our leaders must treat our public universities as the economic engines they are — and invest in them accordingly.
Richard A. Bierschbach is president of Wayne State University. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online or in print.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: WSU president: Michigan can’t grow without graduates | Opinion
Reporting by Richard A. Bierschbach, Op-ed contributor / Detroit Free Press
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