MSU’s planning and budget process affirms annually that stakeholders receive the best possible value for their higher education investment. MSU is recognized as one of the top research universities in the world, with more than 400 undergraduate and graduate programs and $380 million annually in sponsored activities. Concurrently, MSU is committed to ensuring that its doors are open to qualified students across the socioeconomic spectrum. With the 30 percent increase approved by the Board of Trustees in June, more than $100 million of MSU’s general fund budget will be dedicated to financial aid by 2010–11. Further, it is engaged in communities across the state to improve quality of life and build a sound economic future. MSU is responsible for more than 1.1 million outreach contacts annually.
By assuring that MSU’s financial aid increases exceed tuition increases—by an average of nearly 4.5 percent over the last five years—MSU has maintained its number and distribution of students from all income levels, making it one of only two Big Ten institutions to maintain its proportion of Pell students over the last decade. Additionally, the Spartan Advantage Program and the Adverse Economic Circumstances Fund were created to help students whose families live below the poverty level or have suffered severe financial setbacks as a result of the current economic downturn. Further, MSU Assistance Program grants are directed to those students whose financial circumstances are slightly stronger than individuals receiving federal financial aid grant support. With the 30 percent increase approved by the Board of Trustees in June, more than $100 million of MSU’s general fund budget will be dedicated to financial aid by 2010–11.
Over the last five years, MSU has actually improved its student–faculty ratio from 19 to 1 to 16 to 1, approximately the Big Ten average. Students’ academic strength is steadily increasing, with last year’s entering class judged the best prepared in 10 years, based on GPA and ACT scores. This combination of excellence and affordability has benefited the state of Michigan for generations, with MSU graduates contributing up to $3 billion per year to Michigan’s overall economic activity.
MSU’s basic and applied research initiatives work to improve the lives of real people in real communities, around the world. This past year, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science awarded MSU the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams project, expected to bring $1 billion in economic activity and 400 jobs to Michigan. Further, MSU’s commitment to developing sustainable fuels has brought many, many millions of dollars into the state, most recently in the form of $1.4 million in federal funds to develop a new biofuel research program at MSU’s Upper Peninsula Tree Improvement Center in Escanaba. MSU scientists recently developed a patented process to reduce the cost of making biofuels from cellulose—an invention whose positive economic implications will be felt for decades. Research ingenuity among faculty has increased grant dollars per tenure-system faculty member by 63 percent over 10 years.
Unfortunately, budget resources have not accelerated at the same speed. MSU’s two main sources of budget support are tuition and fees and state appropriations support. Over the last 12 years, the state of Michigan ranks 49th in growth of higher education appropriations support, requiring MSU to operate with the least amount of tuition and state appropriations support per student in the Big Ten. Public financial support of universities now accounts for less than one-third of MSU’s operating revenue. Comparatively, if MSU’s state appropriations had increased at the average rate of change for other Big Ten states, MSU would have an additional $72 million in state support—sufficient funds to reduce tuition by about 14 percent.
To address this challenge, MSU has improved the efficiency of its operations, reducing its annual expenditures more than $70 million over the last six years. In the face of these reductions, MSU has sustained its momentum in terms of faculty productivity with credit hours taught per faculty member up by 9.3 percent over the last six years. MSU has been prudent in its financial management, holding an Aa2 bond rating and consistently outperforming most of its peer institutions in key financial income. MSU has imposed an annual 1 percent efficiency reduction factor on all operating units to help meet the university’s long-term goals. Today, MSU uses less energy per square foot of space, $5.6 mmbtu, than all but one other Big Ten university—an energy savings as well as a contribution to the environment.
Nonetheless, MSU has not been immune to painful program cuts in response to budget constraints; 15 academic degree programs have been discontinued since the last economic cycle, including anatomy, urban affairs, and graduate programs in audiology and counseling psychology, the last of which was ranked within the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report. The College of Human Ecology was eliminated, with its departments moved to the Colleges of Social Science, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Communication Arts and Sciences. In making these reductions and reorganizations, the university has worked hard to determine which programs best meet its long-term goals.
Ongoing evolution of MSU programs has assured both research and educational excellence, with measurable results:
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© 2009 Michigan State University Board of Trustees. East Lansing, MI 48824.
MSU is an affirmative-action, equal opportunity employer.