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 […]
Legislature
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 inPhil's Column
Michigan is turning students into beggars
For more than a decade, Michigan’s elected officials have imposed what amounts to a severe tax on the hundreds of thousands of students who attend our public universities. The consequences of this “college user tax” – clearly amounting to millions of dollars per year – include raising the cost bar for young Michiganders to attend […]
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 inPhil's Column
Michigan needs productive 'midlife crisis'
“Today, the country is middle-aged but self-indulgent. Bad habits have accumulated. Interest groups have emerged to protect the status quo. The job is to restore old disciplines, strip away decaying structures and reform the welfare state. The country needs a productive midlife crisis” — David Brooks, New York Times columnist. For the past three years, the New Year […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Delray neighborhood has hopes, worries for a new bridge
If advocates get their way, the Next International Trade Crossing bridge would be built with its U.S. terminus in the Delray neighborhood of Detroit, southwest of downtown and of the existing Ambassador Bridge. Community leaders and residents who spoke to Bridge Magazine about the proposal offered mixed views, with hopes of improved economic activity leavened […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Voters choose to tax themselves
A powerful trend in state government this year has been to take decisions that reduce the amount of money flowing to local governments; money that gets spent to provide all manner of services. Details, in fact, are still being worked out on another state decision to alter the state’s personal property tax, which will lead […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Recall election didn't resolve anything
By Peter Luke Gov. Rick Snyder’s campaign vow to change the political culture that governs Lansing suffered the same dismal fate as former Rep. Paul Scott this week. The Grand Blanc Republican surrendered his office Wednesday less than 12 hours after conceding that he’d been recalled by voters of the 51st House District by a […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Coming to your hometown: Fewer services
While there has been much talk in Lansing in recent weeks about reducing revenue — again — for local governments, the folks actually in charge of running public service on the city/township/village level are dealing with the consequences of previous reductions, caused either by a bad economy or state funding choices. Tom Ivacko and the […]