Washington Monthly - September/October 2024 - 21

tance, she gradually increased state appropriations. When
Democrats retook control of the legislature in 2022, Whitmer
was able to implement even more expansive reform.
In the next year, state appropriations rose to a century
high, 48 percent above their low point in 2011. Whitmer
also created a generous achievement scholarship, which
tripled state financial aid, and she secured free community
college for all residents of Michigan. When I spoke with
GVSU's president, Philomena Mantella, about the differences
between the legislative climate of today versus a decade
ago, she concurred that the tides are changing. Although
she pointed out that GVSU continues to operate
at a structural disadvantage because of the state's fundIn
to identify where college graduates end up residing.
They then calculated how much state funding each university
received, factoring in retention, graduation, and
dropout rates for every university. This resulted in a more
precise measurement, which correctly gives credit to
higher-performing universities. Using that data, the researchers
constructed a " social return " metric, consisting
of three components: the level of tax revenue spent per
student, the graduation rate, and net migration.
The results were unambiguous. On a basis of return
on tax dollars, regional universities outperform flagships.
For every $100,000 of state funding, the researchers
found, regional universities retain nearly two college
Regional Universities
ing formula, she also agreed that the discourse around
higher education had changed. " In 2010, there were lots
of questions about college investment as a driver for economic
prosperity, " she said. " I don't hear that anymore. "
Directly challenging the conservative consensus, Whitmer
bet that investing in higher education would yield
greater economic benefits than corporate tax relief.
The new Upjohn Institute paper validates her belief.
The conservative charge that states don't benefit from
subsidizing higher education since so many of its graduates
end up moving to Brooklyn or San Francisco has been
hard to assess because of a lack of reliable data. The Upjohn
study addressed this problem by " scraping " publicly
available information on the networking platform LinkedNon-Regional
Universities
graduates in the state for every one flagships keep. " From
the lens of a state policymaker, " they concluded, " we
show that regional public institutions tend to produce
the greatest number of graduates who stay and work instate
per dollar of state funding, suggesting investments
in these institutions could have particularly high local returns. "
(While the best community colleges have similarly
high ROI, many others don't because their students graduate
at lower rates and earn less after college.)
In Michigan, the top nine best-performing universities
are regional publics, with the two best-known schools,
Michigan State and the University of Michigan, ranking
10th and 13th, according to the study's underlying data,
which the researchers shared with the Washington Monthly.
Washington Monthly 21
Zach Marcus
Washington Monthly - September/October 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Washington Monthly - September/October 2024
