Subcommittee hears $2.324 billion higher education budget and community college formula details

Perry Zylak, senior fiscal analyst, House Fiscal Agency, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education and Community Colleges that the fiscal year 2024–25 higher education gross appropriation is about $2.324 billion and that higher education funding is concentrated in operations grants to the state’s 15 public universities.

Zylak said roughly $1.859 billion of the higher education budget comes from the state’s general fund/general purpose (about 80 percent of the higher education budget), with the remainder largely from state restricted revenues such as the School Aid Fund and a small federal funding component. He said higher education represents roughly 3 percent of the state’s $81.4 billion budget and about 13 percent of the state general fund.

The fiscal analyst outlined several major issues: the Michigan Achievement Scholarship (appropriated at $330 million for FY25), institutions’ operational grants (about $1.7 billion), tuition restraint conditions attached to new…