It’s time for Michigan to direct its priorities more accurately. As our state hemorrhages manufacturing jobs, we are experiencing the highest unemployment in the nation. While the situation may never return to the levels we once enjoyed, this reality has resulted in people returning to colleges and universities in far greater numbers than ever before. Although the loss of positions is painful to our economy, the prospect of a more educated workforce in Michigan shows greater promise for our long-term viability.

As we respond to this influx of students, let us focus on quality higher education taught by competent full-time professors. This will require an investment in the people who teach those students. If Michigan is going to compete with regions that are successfully reinventing themselves and moving forward rather than backward, then clearly the quality and dedication of our learning institutions’ professorial talent is key. The investment is minimal but the return is great. We must pay our academic staff sufficiently to retain our existing professors and attract new and talented ones.

Recent concerns about rising university and college tuition, along with decreases in federal and state appropriations for educational initiatives, have resulted in calls for cuts in faculty salaries and health benefits, along with the blaming of university teacher unions.

Most Michigan colleges and universities are financially sound and receive excellent bond ratings from agencies like Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. That’s because they have solid revenues, predictable expenses and, at most schools, investment income (or losses) that are not considered part of operating costs. Despite what one might imagine, the stock market decline did not affect operational budgets at most public or private institutions.