OPtimizing EDucation

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Dan Hurley February 6, 2025

For the past decade the Michigan Association of State Universities has biennially released its Michigan Higher Education Public Policy Agenda. The just-released fifth edition, issued in tandem with the start of the state’s 103rd legislative session, represents a…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Dan Hurley January 29, 2025

The state universities of Michigan are indispensable public assets that positively impact virtually every aspect of society, and as such, seek to partner with state officials in the unending quest to move Michigan forward. These institutions drive state economic growth and serve…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Dan Hurley September 19, 2024

I recently wrote about Michigan’s strong labor market forecast for workers with four-year degrees and above, citing several data sources that underscore the value of a bachelor’s degree in the years ahead. A prominent, frequently cited source that is Michigan-specific is the…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Dan Hurley September 12, 2024

Talent is the currency of today’s economy, enabling states to attract and retain companies and the high-knowledge, high-income workers they employ. And talent development, especially as measured by the completion of postsecondary degrees and credentials, will become increasingly…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Mia Murphy March 22, 2024

Michigan’s public universities have learned to do more with less for many years now. While recent state budgets have been a well appreciated re-investment, institutions responded to years of cuts or stagnation by holding the line on affordability for students and families. This…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Mia Murphy July 27, 2023

Every few years, I like to draw attention to the shocking difference between what the federal government thinks a student is, and what the State of Michigan knows about students. It’s time for one of those posts again. The state’s Center for Education Performance and Information…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Dan Hurley July 14, 2023

The recently passed Fiscal Year 2024 higher education budget reflected a second consecutive spending framework that signals a notable reinvestment in the state’s public postsecondary institutions and the students they serve. It is the most substantive higher education budget of…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Mia Murphy February 2, 2023

For many years, various entities have set up dashboards to monitor the state of higher education around the nation. The federal government, state governments, business roundtables, and universities themselves have all created such tools. In that vein, MASU is pleased to unveil…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Mia Murphy May 20, 2022

At a recent debate among Republican candidates seeking to serve as Michigan’s next Governor, a number of them expressed their belief that the state’s public universities are swimming in dollars, particularly thanks to their endowments. Now and then we hear news stories about…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Dan Hurley January 27, 2022

1,737 years. That’s the number of years that Michigan’s 15 public universities have collectively existed. More than half of our state’s public universities were established in the nineteenth century, beginning with the University of Michigan’s founding in 1817, a full two…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Mia Murphy August 31, 2021

Back in May, the fine folks out at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) put out a comprehensive report summarizing the available literature on state funding of higher education. They confirmed what we all suspected: cutting public higher education…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Mia Murphy May 26, 2021

My colleague Dan Hurley posted earlier this week about a major national study that reaffirms the direct role state investment in higher education has in determining student outcomes at public universities. This investment helps draws students to campuses by keeping education…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Dan Hurley May 25, 2021

The leaders of Michigan’s 15 public universities and the team here at MASU have long contended that there are real consequences for the state’s disinvestment in higher education over the past twenty years, which has seen a more than 40% reduction in state funding per student. As…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Mia Murphy May 18, 2021

The last time I wrote about public university missions, it was to give the reader a sense of university history and founding purposes. As I pointed out in that last post, what universities do now is even today often conditional on what they were originally established to do.…

In OPtimizing EDucation, by Mia Murphy March 26, 2021

We’ve recently heard interest in Lansing, as limited as it is, of supporting public universities in Michigan through a voucher model. Such a model would theoretically set a flat rate amount of state funding that is paid to state universities on a per student basis. After all,…