<p>"The race for financing is particularly urgent now, development officers say. The national financial crisis has drained endowments and may affect fund-raising. Michigans endowment at the end of June was $7.7 billion, but it has dropped by about 20 to 30 percent since then, the university said.</p>
<p>Still, its construction program proceeded apace even as state funds steadily diminished. For its 24 projects, the university says it has received just $20 million from the state of Michigan for three of the projects. The rest were financed with donor gifts, bonds and operating revenue. "</p>
<p>hope they can keep the tuition cost contained....I can see all the money is well spent for the sciences but the art and academic center for dumb jocks is a waste of money. If Michigan wants to increase it's academic reputation....it should get rid of joke majors like kinesology. marketing , and sports management. Yale, Columbia, etc... don't have these type of majors.</p>
<p>^ Well, UMich doesn't have to be a "Yale" or whatever. UMich is excellent in what they offer -- and they offer a braod range of programs -- and that's probably why it can attract the best and brightest students despite Ivy League's aggressive efforts to lure talented students.</p>
<p>Well wishes for UM and the state of Michigan! Happy New Year everyone!</p>
<p>MiPerson, Yale may be better than Michigan for undergraduate education, but it is not better for research, facilities or graduate studies. Assuming that administrators or faculty would rather be at Yale than at Michigan is actually incorrect. Sure, some faculty leave, but it is generally for a promotion (dean of a department etc...), better funding or personal reasons (Bollinger left Michigan for Columbia because it is his alama matter and he loves NYC). </p>
<p>Do not mix high school student sentiment with faculty sentiment. If you want to evaluate faculty sentiment, look at Peer Assessment scores for graduate programs.</p>
<p>Also, UM must get rid of majors such as dental hygiene, sports management, athlectic training, etc....I mean do these kids get ACT's> 28 for these type majors?</p>
<p>MiPerson, it is well known that Bollinger would only leave for Columbia, just as Shapiro would onlyleave for Princeton. Both of those presidents left for their own alma matter...and the latter openly admits regretting his decision.</p>
<p>I do believe that UMich will thrive and its prestige will grow (maybe it would even become as prestigious or more prestigious as Yale) even if it will not follow the direction of Yale. Yale is more than 100 years older than UMich. UMich is thriving and its prestige is increasing.</p>
<p>MiPerson80: As a U of M Dental Hygiene '86 grad, I am willing to bet you know little if anything at all of the academic rigor of the dental hygiene program. I am now currently practicing in Indianapolis, but every D.H. program I am aware of is extremely competitive - even more so than nursing as not as many exist - to get into. We had 19-21 credit hours per semester, with clinicals running until 5:00 p.m. It was like working an 8-5 job, and then to go home to do the studying to keep up with that number of credit hours. Dental hygiene and nursing are EXTREMEMLY competitive to get into. And it was during the prereq classes taken the first two years that I met some of my best friends - nursing and optometry majors. Don’t put any program down until you know the specifics!</p>