I think we should trust the administration more. Michigan is one of the richest and most prestigious universities around, so I don’t think their rep will decrease just because their acceptance rate rose 3 percent (which will go right back down for class of 2021 and then beyond anyway). And given its high status as a university, I also trust that the administration is competent and capable enough to maintain its incredible commitment to its students. I think the university made the right decision and we should trust what it decided to do
@rjkofnovi point taken but the university could certainly fall below 20%- it receives thousands of new applicants every year, and its one of the most well known and applied to universities in the world. depends on resources tho, etc
The State contributes about $300 million to the university budget. That amount has been slowly declining and now less than 20% of the budget. Given the current State budget, that is probably going to continue. In exchange the university is giving ~60% of undergraduate students a $28,000 “discount.” Additionally, the university has to admit students that are not the best applicants available.
I think that the best way forward for the university is to cut the cord and transition to a private university over the next 5 -15 years. The strong brand, endowment, alumni base, and applicant pool mean that the cost of being a public university now outweighs the benefit for the university.
That would free the university from a lot of bureaucracy, and help the state manage its budget problems at the same time. In the long run, they will both be much better off.
^^^^There is no way Michigan will ever become a private school.
rjk, you would be surprised. Public universities are a drain on the state economy. If Michigan goes private, it would save the money a lot of money. I am not saying it will happen, but I would not say never.
Here is what I’d like to see: 1) Hand off the Dearborn and Flint campuses to Michigan State and let it become the state flagship; 2) cut the undergraduate class to 3,500 students, approximating Cornell; 3) reserve 1,000 seats per class for in-state; 4) give up 2/3 of the state subsidy; 5) bump tuition around $15,000 for all students (still $5,000 cheaper than the Ivys and other elite schools); 6) go private.
Those steps would lead to: 1) instant increase is selectivity numbers; 2) a student pool whose metrics would easily be Ivy quality; 3) the initial cost would be a shortfall of $150MM/year, which could be decapitalized until either the budget is adjusted or endowment earning catchup or market tuition rates adjust.
@rjkofnovi “There is no way Michigan will ever become a private school.”
In reality, it has gradually been becoming a private school for a long time. In 1960 78% of the university budget came from state funding. Last year, public funding was only 16% of the budget. http://vpcomm.umich.edu/budget/fundingsnapshot/5.html
Michigan, like other states, keeps cutting funding to universities. That is not going to change any time soon. In a few more years, it will probably be less than 10% of the university’s budget.
The university would undoubtedly still offer some level of preferential admissions to in-state students. Many private schools do things like that. There would no longer be in-state tuition, but the State could offer scholarships to in-state students to make up the difference if they wanted to. The university would also benefit hugely from no longer having to deal with all of the bureaucracy that goes with being a public university (no more costly affirmative action lawsuits!).
Why do you think that the school would never go private?
The university is controlled by the Board of Regents. All of the board members are elected officials. The residents of Michigan are not about to give up their crown jewel of higher education simply because some of us don’t think the school is exclusive enough.
@blprof freshman courses open up additional course spots throughout the summer to accommodate later orientation times…and writing courses can be taken second semester as well so thats not a big deal
rjk, it is not about what the residents want. This is not going to go to a referendum. The Michexit would be more of an executive decision based on what the state can afford. Clearly, it can no longer afford the “crown jewel”.
That being said, I do not think Michigan need go public. However, I don’t see why or how state residents should make up more than 30% of the total undergraduate student body. I actually like Blue85’s model in post #45. However, I don’t see how Michigan can increase tuition by $15k for OOS. I think the current tuition for OOS students is fair. Whether or not Michigan increases tuition for residents depends on the deal they work out with the state. Personally, I think charging all students the same but guaranteeing generous FA that meets the need of all students is the best way to go.
Alexandre: part of my thinking or “model” is as follows…the state spends nearly $300MM/year on UM. Were they to do a bond issuance at around 4% for 30 years, the present value would be roughly $5Bln. Paying that amount to UM today would yield the state a certain number of chairs in the class which would demise after 30 year. In the meantime, the incremental endowment earnings would support around 4,600 seats in the class for in-state students and would allow UM to decrement slowly the required chairs offered/subsidized by the state currently.
wtf yall are evil chill out lmao
@blprof They explore. It’s frustrating to see incoming students who are so narrow minded in doing only what’s required (i.e. they “NEED” to do the First Year Writing this semester or they “HAVE” to do all science classes their first semester). Why LSA if you aren’t going to take advantage of the liberal arts education? There are thousands of open seats in around 100 departments, and students complain about everything being “closed”. For every class a student says is closed, there are 4 or 5 that that are open and that will count for something towards their degree
@michmaybe That’s only true for English 125/124, the First Year Seminars, the Romance languages, and Calc I and II. Every other single class is first come, first serve.
@hailbate - I am a college academic advisor and a professor so I am well aware that students should look outside the box and the value of a liberal arts education. I was just noting that my daughter commented that many of the classes she wanted to take, which are decidedly NOT traditional courses, had at most one spot available. And unlike most students, she looked far and wide for courses that interested her.
But thanks for the lecture.
I love how some people get heated on college discussion boards haha.
@blprof Oh whoops, simple misunderstanding. I didn’t mean to sound demeaning and I actually was more ranting about students I’ve worked with in the past and was by no means trying to classify your daughter as one of those students or questioning you as a parent. I should’ve separated “They explore” and everything else into their own paragraphs
@michmaybe Ha! If you’ve met some of the pre-Ross kids I’ve worked with, you’d get heated as well
Former non-resident and international students — who attended the college when the acceptance was 60% and the middle 50% ACT was 25-30 — seized with seeing Ivy League matriculant numbers and turning Michigan residents’ flagship U into a private college.
Humourous on so many levels.
@concernedmom17 Shouldn’t that be taken as a compliment, though?
“Former non-resident and international students — who attended the college when the acceptance was 60% and the middle 50% ACT was 25-30 — seized with seeing Ivy League matriculant numbers and turning Michigan residents’ flagship U into a private college. Humourous on so many levels.”
Please offer your thoughts on all of those levels. What are they? The desire to be associated with excellence? Perhaps that has never happened for you? The desire to see one’s alma mater improve in strength and reputation? Perhaps you have never experienced that?
Keep in mind that despite nearly every metric trending up for Michigan, its ranking remains a perplexing mystery and has slid a bit since the major USN&WR recalibration circa 1986. As a result, all of the kids that you are making sport of probably attended a higher ranked institution. If so, and it seems very likely, there is probably a natural desire to see their alma mater grow in strength and selectivity.
It is alway interesting to see a new name and new member arrive on the scene and offer up little better than outright trolling. I’ll look forward to making your first positive contribution to this community.
concernedmom, in my day (1992), Michigan’s acceptance rate was 56%. Chicago’s was 50%. Johns Hopkins’ was 55%. Cornell, Penn and Columbia’s was 40%. Northwestern’s was 45%. Also, the difference in ACT/SAT ranges was, as it is today, insignificant (1-1.5 points on the ACT, 20-30 points in each section of the SAT).
There was, admittedly, a 15 year window (from 1998-roughly 2013) when there was a significant gap between Michigan’s acceptance rate (and test score ranges) and that of most of its peers, but that has again evaporated.
Finally, as blue85 noted, when I chose to attend Michigan, it was widely regarded as one of the top 15 universities in the nation. The USNWR has altered that perception among the unwitting majority. Fortunately, where it matters, among the intellectual elite, particularly in academe, and in industry/corporate America, Michigan remains, as it always has been, one of the elite.