Michigan Rewards Colleges for Keeping Tuition Affordable

Public universities that keep tuition rates down are being rewarded with extra state aid.

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As college education costs continue to rise throughout the country, Michigan is taking a unique step to help reign them in. The Detroit Free Press reports that earlier this year the state legislature set aside $9 million dollars to incentivize all public universities in the state to keep tuition increases under 4.1 percent. All of the 15 eligible universites did so, and as a result each will receive a cut of the money. Each school will receive $84,600 for every tenth of a percent their tuition hike was under the cap set up in the budget. The payouts range from $169,200 in additional state aid for Western Michigan for a 3.9 percent increase to $1.8 million for Central Michigan University for keeping their rate hike to just 2.0 percent. Other states that are looking at tying state aid to tuition rate guarantees or freezes include Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Iowa.

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Brian Peteritas is a GOVERNING contributor.
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