The Detroit News. October 3, 2019
Budget battle puts higher education at risk
This week’s wrangling between the Michigan Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has resulted in drastic cuts to essential programs and services. The result? Many of our state’s most vulnerable populations are at risk - and so is our state’s economic future.
One of the many appropriations that vanished provided financial aid to nearly 17,000 students attending college across the state - adults, veterans and first-generation students. These unique populations can’t afford this loss of aid as they pursue post-secondary education.
Our state can’t afford it either. Economic growth and opportunity are closely linked to educational attainment. When our students have to drop out of college, Michigan becomes less competitive for jobs, incomes and productivity. Little by little, one by one, our prosperity is put to death by a thousand paper cuts.
To see the impact of this budget mess, just look at Veronica Barolo, who’s pursuing a nursing degree at University of Detroit Mercy. When she was in high school and taking the SATs, her father suffered a traumatic injury and was left in a coma. Thankfully, he pulled through, but the injury forced him to retire and raised some questions about how the family would fund Barolo’s college education.
“This grant has helped ease some of the financial burden of attending college,” she said. “My dad is doing great, but paying for tuition has been a little tight. Without the grant I would be forced to take out more student loans so I’m really thankful for it.”
Or meet Noah Rye, who has just graduated from Kettering University with a degree in mechanical engineering.
“As a student whose parents wanted to help but couldn’t, things like the Michigan Tuition Grant made college at my dream school a reality. It hasn’t been easy, and even with grants, it certainly hasn’t been a free ride,” Rye said. “There is only so much a single person can do on their own, and the Michigan Tuition Grant gives support to many people who just would not be able to afford college on their own no matter how hard they work.”
Students who receive the tuition grant represent approximately 30% of all students receiving need-based financial aid from the state of Michigan. And that’s not all:
5,646 MTG recipients are over the age of 25, the only program serving adult students in Michigan who are earning a bachelor’s degree
At least 210 grant recipients are veterans
More than 6,000 grant recipients are first-generation college students
But the need that exists represents only half of the equation. In 2020, 65% of all jobs will require some level of education beyond high school. But today, only 39% of Michigan’s working age population are ready for those jobs.
Moreover, salaries significantly improve for Michiganians that obtain more than a high school education. With some college or an associate’s degree, salaries are on average 22% higher than those with a high school degree. For those with a bachelor’s degree or higher, salaries are on average twice those with only a high school degree.
By cutting opportunities for Michigan students to continue learning, state leaders put our state’s future prosperity - and the incomes of Michigan families - at risk. Employers looking for skilled, educated talent are going to pass Michigan by. Personal incomes and productivity will fall. Our growth will be stopped in its tracks.
It doesn’t matter how this budget mess got started. What matters now is that it is fixed promptly, before even one of Michigan’s college students is forced to give up on his or her future.
The stakes are simply too high.
___
The Mining Journal (Marquette). October 2, 2019
EGLE department transparency a clear and laudable goal
Transparency is a good thing, particularly if your recent track record isn’t all that spectacular.
Liesl Clark, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, recently talked with The Mining Journal about the agency.
EGLE, which used to be the Department of Environmental Quality, aims to protect Michigan’s environment and public health through managing land, water, air and energy resources.
Clark said she learned her team had heard time and time again the agency needed to perform better in communications.
For example, according to the Mackinac Center, its legal foundation in 2017 reached a settlement with the DEQ over the department’s delayed response to a Freedom of Information request regarding emails sent between two DEQ employees that mentioned the Flint water crisis.
The DEQ and the state of Michigan in general got a huge black eye due to the handling, or mishandling, of the crisis, which continues to this day, with much misinformation given to the public.
So, transparency between the department and the public now is one of Clark’s priorities.
EGLE has established the Michigan Environment blog at mi.gov/mienvironment, whose October spotlight is on energy.
The blog noted that at Constitution Hall in Lansing, where EGLE is headquartered, energy efficiency has been the focus for some time. Since 2015, the building has been ENERGY STAR certified. This designation, which is earned annually, means the building uses 35% less energy on average than similar buildings in the United States.
For instance, new energy efficient light-emitting diode, or LED, lighting recently was installed in the restrooms, atrium, catwalk and first floor.
EGLE still needs to work with the public in other ways.
Regarding FOIA requests, EGLE receives a lot - about 7,000 a year. So, Clark noted that providing information on EGLE initiatives online will give Michigan residents easier access to this information.
Clark also told The Mining Journal that better communication between the agency and the public would allow people to understand the environment better, and that’s a worthy mission considering some topics can be difficult to understand.
We hope another tragedy on the scale of Flint doesn’t happen. Were one to come up, though, we hope better transparency and communication alleviates the problem a lot better than what happened in Flint.
We urge the public to subscribe to the Michigan Environment blog and keep up to date, via regular news outlets, social media and the like, about the state’s environment.
After all, transparency loses a lot of its well-intended meaning when no one listens.
___
Traverse City Record-Eagle. October 3, 2019
How are we dune?
Oh yes. We hear it all the time. We’re the “The Most Beautiful Place in America” from Good Morning America. We’re “Sahara-Level Sand Dunes, Mediterranean Blue Water: Welcome to Michigan” according to the New York Times this September.
What keeps our secure footing as a top-10 darling? So many reasons, of course, but one stands out - or rather perches about the rest - our dunes.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore flaunts almost 40 miles of dune-meets-water coastline.
Our state has the distinction of hosting the largest collection of freshwater coastal sand dunes in the world.
A map of them, covering 230,000 acres, will be presented today in Lansing at the Michigan Coastal Dunes Symposium 2019.
This first, high-resolution map doubles the area previously mapped, according to Michigan State University researcher Alan Arbogast.
The economics of dunes will also arise.
A recent survey - #howyoudune - found that people spent an average of $133 each visit, according to MSU ecological economist Robert Richardson.
“More than 80 percent of responses to our online survey said access to coastal dunes in Michigan is extremely important to the quality of life for them and members of their household,” Richardson said.
But dunes change - it’s their nature - as do the times.
Currently about 54 percent of the total acreage of dunes are publicly owned or in conservancy.
About 32 percent of our dunes are considered “critical” and fall under state protection.
But threats to dunes and dune ecosystems persist - so must the conversation.
Today’s symposium will address their unique value and using science to better manage the threats facing them.
Our dunes are attention-getting and ever-changing. Our awareness of #howwedune is critical.
___
Please read our comment policy before commenting.