As President Obama calls on states to prioritize higher education funding, some members of the Michigan Senate are working to do just that.
Recently, Senate Democrats released a plan that would redirect $3.5 billion in tax credits and corporate subsidies towards a plan to finance free tuition for every Michigan high school graduate interested in attending college. Under the plan, those who attend Michigan schools from grades K-12 and graduate would be eligible for an award equal to the median tuition level of the state’s public universities, currently $9,575 per year. Graduates from Michican high schools who also attended schools outside the state would be eligible for a percentage of that amount.
The legislators backing the proposal argue that a well-educated workforce is essential to the state’s future.
“It’s time for us to be bold and there’s no better place for us to start than by giving each and every child in Michigan the chance to compete in the 21st century job market,” said Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer. “It’s not about whether Michigan can afford to do this, it’s whether we can afford not to.”
On Friday, President Obama spoke to a crowd of students at the University of Michigan, where he outlined numerous proposals he’ll present to Congress to help make college affordable and accessible for interested Americans. The speech echoed concepts he addressed in his State of the Union earlier this week.
(Read More: Obama Focuses on High Tuition Costs, Calling Higher Education An ‘Economic Imperative’)
The backers also argue that they wouldn’t raise taxes, but rather, plan to eliminate “ineffective tax loopholes,” noting that the proposal would only eliminate about 10 percent of the existing $350 billion in tax credits.
Moreover, as Tanya Somanader of ThinkProgress points out, the plan’s cost, estimated to be about $1.8 billion, is almost exactly equal to that of the $1.7 billion in tax cuts that Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder doled out to corporations last year.
At this point, the Michigan 2020 program is just a proposal, but it’s encouraging to see state legislators pushing back against austerity measures, redefining the terms of the higher education debate, and thinking about how to support state colleges and universities without simply relying on federal grant money.
Michigan has some of the best public schools in the country, and its leadership on college affordability issues could set an important example for other states struggling to support their universities and students.