One contributing factor is Michigan’s high sticker cost. Most Michigan students are out of state (half of undergrads and majority of grads). IPEDS suggests that Michigan is the highest sticker price pubic college in United States for out-of-state residents, among non-specialty majors. The Michigan website lists a sticker price of $84k for 1st/2nd year and $89k for 3rd/4th year. Michigan is also among the highest sticker price for in-state. Having a higher sticker price for upper income kids (particularly out of state/country) allows the college to discount price for low/middle class kids while still maintaining the same average revenue per student. Michigan also has the ~2nd highest endowment among public college systems in US, further bolstering revenue. It’s a similar principle to the ~$90k sticker price privates that were mentioned earlier in the thread.
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