The Michigan economy is recovering. For those of you with weak hearts, let’s leave it at that. Spend a few minutes watching a kitten stuck in a hamster ball. For those of you still here: the economy is recovering slowly. Just how slowly? I could show you a chart, but this will give you a […]
Ron French
Ron French is the senior enterprise reporter at Bridge Michigan, covering a wide range of topics including rural communities, federal policy impacts, education and public health. Born and raised in Indiana, Ron came to Bridge in 2011 from The Detroit News, where he was a project reporter, and previously reported for newspapers across Indiana. He graduated from Purdue University.
Rooted in Okemos, Ron has become a true Michigander — complete with a family cabin Up North.
Posted inTalent & Education
Senate Dems toss hat into college costs debate
College would be cheaper for Michigan families under a proposal made in Lansing the day after Bridge Magazine published an analysis of public university costs. That analysis, published Tuesday, found that Michigan families pay more to attend their state’s public universities than do families in almost any other state. Twelve of Michigan’s 15 public universities […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Parting gift for college grads: $25k in debt
Clark Eagling has $45,000 in student loans — and he’s the lucky one in the family. His wife, Aimee Kessel, owes $90,000 for her undergraduate and graduate college education. The debt is so large that the couple may be collecting Social Security before they finish paying for college. “We’ve both essentially said that we don’t […]
Posted inTalent & Education
EMU prez: Tuition is 'safety valve' for state budget
Legislators know universities are going to make up lost state revenue by raising tuition. In fact, that’s what makes cutting funds to higher education so easy, says Eastern Michigan University President Sue Martin. Martin knows what she’s talking about. She has a Ph.D. in accounting. She was deputy state treasurer under Govs. William Milliken and […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Legislator: Taxpayers get bad deal from universities
State Rep. Bob Genetski doesn’t have many fans at Michigan’s public universities. As chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education, Genetski, R-Saugatuck, has been an outspoken critic of how universities spend money — and a leader in the movement to reform the state’s higher education funding formula. A Bridge analysis found that Michigan […]
Posted inMichigan Government
'College tax' burdens students, state
Caroline Robinson and Barbara Twist are cousins who share far more than bloodlines. They are both seniors in college; each attends one of the top public universities in the nation. The similarities stop, however, when the tuition bills arrive. Barbara is paying twice as much for her education at the University of Michigan as Caroline […]
Posted inTalent & Education
The 44-cent solution
What can you buy with 44 cents? You can get one postage stamp, at least for the next 12 days, when the cost of mailing a letter jumps to 45 cents. You could buy an eighth of a gallon of gas. Or you could help turn around the state’s economy. Michigan families pay more to […]
Posted inTalent & Education
'College tax' varies by campus
Michigan has 15 public universities (though three are technically part of just one university system — the University of Michigan). Students attending 12 of these 15 schools are paying a “college tax” — meaning that the annual net cost to them is higher than the average cost found at peer institutions in other states. The […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Grand Valley: "It's not our fault."
Calculating tuition at Grand Valley State University begins the same way every year. School officials estimate staff costs and utilities. They have a good idea how many students they’ll enroll. But the rest of the equation is dependent upon a variable beyond the university’s control or analysis: appropriations decisions made by state legislators. Last year, […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Food stamps returning for some needy families
Thousands of Michigan families who were expected to lose food stamps will now keep the assistance or get it back next week. How many families? No one knows. Which families? No one knows that either. The Department of Human Services, which was very efficient at removing families from food stamps in October, is struggling to […]