University officials are warning of possible tuition increases next year after House Republicans turned up the heat in the battle over MSU’s health care mandate, adding a provision in the earliest stages of the budget process that threatens to strip funding.
State Rep. Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, did not let go of efforts to repeal MSU’s health care mandate after a hearing in February between administrators and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education ended in disagreement. After the meeting, he said the committee would look for other options to get the mandate removed.
Friday, Cotter and the rest of the committee followed through, passing an addition to Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget proposal that would require MSU to scrap its policy requiring all students to carry a health care plan or face funding cuts from the state.
The budget still must be approved by the full Legislature and governor before it becomes law.
MSU Trustee Faylene Owen said in an email Sunday that the university must keep the policy intact, citing what she described as “political blackmail.”
“To protect the health of our students, MSU cannot knuckle under to this political blackmail,” Owen said in the email. “Our hope is that there are enough people in the Legislature who are rational and respect the constitution that this proposal will have a quiet death. Otherwise the injured parties will be our students.”
MSU received a 1.4 percent funding increase in Snyder’s budget proposal, which could be slashed down the road if the university does not budge on its health care stance.
Cotter and committee chairman Bob Genetski, R-Saugatuck, have lead the charge against MSU’s health care mandate, arguing it adds an unnecessary financial barrier to higher education.
“People say I’ve been critical of MSU, but the school is getting $6 million of new money in this recommendation,” Genetski said to reporters after the meeting, according to MLive. “It’s hard to say someone is being punished when they are the greatest gainers.”
MSU and the University of Michigan are among the smallest gainers in Snyder’s proposal, each getting a 1.4 percent increase compared to a 3 percent increase for state colleges as a whole.
University administrators have maintained the mandate is in place to protect students from running broke on medical expenses, forcing them to drop out of college.
“We believe there are elements in this proposal that are intended to be punitive in nature and that it would force us to raise tuition more than anticipated,” university spokeswoman Heather Swain said in a statement.
ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, also is maintaining its support from the policy as incumbents face re-election this week.
“We’re absolutely opposed to what they’re doing,” ASMSU Director of Media Relations Samantha Artley said, pointing out students can choose health care plans offered under ASMSU and other independent companies and still comply under the policy.
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