It seems like there should be a better way to do things. Haven't we all been taught to analyze things critically, think outside the box, and create effecent and effective solutions to our problems. At least this is how I was taught to handle problems when they arise. So why do our current politicians keep coming up with the same old solutions that don't really fix the problems and cause us to have to make the same difficult descisions the next year?
Case and point.
The local university, Western Michigan University, just raised tution rates on students for next year by 6.6%. The Michigan State budget had cut higher education spending which led to a 16 million dollar cut in WMU's budget. So I understand why the university had to charge its students more right now, but this is the same story that has been playing out in all Michigan's universities since 2002, since the economy of Michigan tanked and manufacturing jobs started leaving the state in droves.
So this budget shortfall is nothing new, and the solutions for dealing with it are nothing new. In 10 years of the same problems and challenges there are still no new or better solutions for dealing with a state budget and university budget problem then to to shift the cost burden back on to the individuals.
Really? This is all we got to work with?
How about one of these ideas.
Green Energy incentives. I don't know how much of a universities budget is taken up in energy costs, WMU is the 3rd largest in Michigan and the top 100 in the country, but I would guess that it is alot of money. So why can they not start putting up solar panels, wind turbines, and making building more energy efficent. We could even make it a student based project where students develop the systems and impliment the programs. It would seem to me that there is a lot of educational value in that as well as saving the university money longer term from having in house renewable energy sources.
Land Ho. Being a land grant university means something. It means that you have land. WMU in fact currently is trying to sell some of its land, and already sold a section to the Kalamazoo public school system to build a new middle school. But they have done this before too and still the budget problems remain. I would think a much better idea would be to maintain ownership and develop the land to fit the needs of the company or firm interested in leasing it. Think about it, continuos income, maintained value. So often the solution is in maintaing value equity holdings while finding a way for those hondings to make you money, not in selling off what you got for short term fixes.
Student loans and government run banks. This is more complicated but the idea is that student loans would be held and serviced by a state owned bank and that revenue from student loan interest could be used to cover the costs of running the bank and be put back in to the educational system to help keep future costs of education down. To do this one would require the supreme court reversing a decision that was made back when Andrew Jackson was president, the Supreme Court at that time refused to renew the charter for the Bank of the United States claiming that the constitution did not give congress the authority to do anything that even might look like regulating the economy.
