A Think Twice Review of:

Michigan Higher Education: Facts and Fiction

Think Twice - Jul 18, 2007

Publisher/Think Tank - Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Author(s) -

This report argues that Michigan ’s colleges and universities did financially fine during a period of sharp cutbacks to higher education between 2000-2004. Further, based on an analysis of a national set of data, the report finds that states with greater appropriations for higher education are more likely to have lower economic growth.

Reviewer(s) - Jose Luis Santos, UCLA

In his review, Santos indicates that the report’s findings and conclusions are poorly grounded and misleading. Though Santos does credit the report with raising a number of important issues, he concludes that the report is basically an advocacy document designed to push policy-makers toward the position that increased state appropriations for higher education are wasteful. Santos’s indicates that the report’s authors “grossly overstate their findings,” and he cautions policy-makers to view the report with great caution.