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<p>alopez14,
I don’t know where you’ve been, but the City of Detroit has been “suffering some challenges” at least since the 1967 riots, and in reality since long before that. It started losing population in the 1950s. White flight also began in the 1950s and accelerated through the 1970s. Suburbanization and decentralization of the auto industry caused the City of Detroit to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue, again beginning in the 1950s. City leaders continued to spend as if it was a much larger city than it had become–some of it necessary because the physical footprint of the city remains the same, some based on naive optimism that the spending would turn things around and spark a revival. Crime rates in the City of Detroit have been horrible for decades, as have the city’s schools. This is all old news.</p>
<p>The U.S. auto industry had a near-death experience at least once before, in the 1970s, and as a consequence the State of Michigan went through a severe fiscal crisis, much worse, if I’m not mistaken, than the recent one. That’s when the state started cutting off funding to the University of Michigan, and the University needed to find other ways to pay its bills. It adapted, and not only survived but thrived. It built one of the biggest endowments of any university in the world, public or private. It built up its research capacity to the point that it now generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually in externally funded research grants. It carefully tended its intellectual property rights and converted them into strong positive revenue streams. It gradually raised tuition to make undergraduate education more of a self-funded enterprise, but at the same time it invested tens of millions in financial aid, most of it directed at in-state students; and it gradually increased the number of OOS students which strengthened its tuition revenue stream, since each OOS student probably brings in, on average, as least 3 times as much tuition revenue as the average in-state student.</p>
<p>The City of Detroit and the State of Michigan have been “suffering some challenges” for at least 4 or 5 decades, probably longer, and the University of Michigan has only gotten stronger, financially and academically, over that period. Conditions in the City of Detroit may get worse before they get better, though it’s hard to say as things appear to be close to rock-bottom right now, and there are some positive signs here and there. The State of Michigan is in better fiscal shape now than it has been at some times in the past, and there’s no reason to think that will get worse. The overall economy of the state is probably more diverse and a little less dependent on the auto industry than in past decades, but it will probably continue to be a pretty low-growth state for the foreseeable future. That’s not a “sky is falling” scenario. So yes, there are “some challenges,” but there have been some challenges for a very long time, and they haven’t hurt the University. </p>
<p>In fact, I would venture to say that the University of Michigan stands out as the single strongest, most resilient institution in the entire state. Unlike the City of Detroit, it’s never come anywhere near bankruptcy. Unlike the auto industry, it’s never had to go hat in hand to the federal government for a bailout. Unlike the State of Michigan, it’s never had to lay off thousands of workers and slash budgets every time there’s a downturn in the auto industry. Even as Detroit and the State of Michigan have gone through hard times, the University of Michigan has steadily advanced, ever onward, ever upward, ever stronger. There’s every reason to expect that will continue.</p>