Murray: State must make decision on support

Grand Valley State University president Mark A. Murray said the State of Michigan must decide the state's financial obligation to its public university students.

Murray testified Wednesday morning before the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee. He showed lawmakers that 20 years ago 69 percent of Grand Valley's instructional budget came from the state appropriation and 31 percent from tuition. In the fall of 2003, the ratio will be exactly the reverse, 69 percent tuition, 31 percent state appropriation.

'Only one other school in the state has such a heavy burden being borne by students,' Murray said. 'Put simply, the continued underfunding of Grand Valley has resulted in our students paying higher tuition than they should.'

Murray noted that this year the state appropriation per student at Grand Valley will be $2,880, a number that has turned the clock back to the per-student state funding Grand Valley received in 1982; and far below the $4,600 the legislature has said the funding level should be.

'I know that the members of past legislatures did not wake up one day and make a deliberate decision to shift costs onto students and families. But it has happened nonetheless.'

Murray acknowledged the difficult condition of the state's budget and told lawmakers that he and his Grand Valley colleagues stand ready to help the Legislature as it deals with the challenges of the higher education budget. He also stressed that investing in the education of Michigan's future leaders is something the state cannot afford to miss.

'Without their resolve, their hard work, and the opportunities afforded by higher education, we would be a second-rate state in the not-too-distant future,' explained Murray. 'Higher education is the most central investment available to individuals and communities for long-term economic and cultural benefit.'

Murray was accompanied by 13 students from Grand Valley, who came to Lansing today to endorse their president's comments to the subcommittee.

Grand Valley enrolls 20,400 students from all 83 Michigan counties as well as from a dozen states and nations. GVSU is Michigan's seventh largest public university; its enrollment has grown by 60 percent in the past 10 years. The university operates campuses in Allendale, Grand Rapids and Holland; and continuing education centers in Muskegon and Traverse City.