The community college completion challenge
The recently released MDRC evaluation of the Detroit Promise underscores the community college completion challenge. Despite adding financial incentives and intensive supports to free tuition, only 29 (five percent) of 390 students who started in the program earned at least 48 credits by the end of their second year. Which was better than the three […]
The difficulty of getting to 60 percent with post-secondary credentials
Governor Whitmer with lots of bi-partisan and business community support has established the goal of 60 percent of Michigan adults having a post- secondary credential by 2030. The Lumina Foundation––which has been at the center of the national effort to get to 60 percent––calculates that in 2017 45 percent of 25-64 year old Michiganders had […]
Michigan Democrats willing to pay for public investments
We have been critical of Michigan policymakers, including Michigan Democrats, for supporting public investments but not being willing to propose raising taxes to pay for them. (See my post entitled Kansas Rs raise taxes, Michigan Ds MIA.) No more! Governor Whitmer’s budget includes a big increase in the gas tax and a partial rollback of […]
Extracurriculars as schooling
Imagine extracurriculars being school. That is the theme of a fascinating and important New York Times column by Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine entitled High School Doesn’t Have to Be Boring. (Mehta is an associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Fine runs a teacher preparation program at the High Tech High Graduate […]
The huge BA earnings premium for 25-34 year olds
The story we are told over and over again is for today’s students getting a four-year degree is no longer a good value for many. It may have been for their parents’ generation, but no more. Everything from student loans college graduates can’t afford because of low salaries; to employers getting smart and now hiring […]
More Michigan households unable to pay for necessities
The Michigan Association of United Ways reports that in 2017 43 percent of Michigan households were unable to pay for necessities. Up six percent from 2010 when the Michigan economy was just starting to grow after the Great Recession. How can that be? In an economy that President Trump calls the best American economy ever […]
A bold new Michigan playbook
Wow! Governor Whitmer’s first budget is a bold new playbook for improving the quality of life and standard of living of Michiganders. At its core it rejects the notion that the lever that matters most to improving the well being of Michiganders is low taxes. That low taxes––combined with minimal regulation––will attract employers who will […]
Michigan 2019: the state of the state
Terrific assessment of Michigan 2019 by Chad Livengood for Crain’s Detroit Business. (I did a podcast with Chad that accompanies the article.) He writes: There are potholes in Michigan — and not just in the roads. Potholes in household income. Potholes in the percentage of working adults. Potholes in student achievement and funding for K-12 […]
What we mean by career rock climbers
Governor Whitmer’s first State of the State address marks a major turning point in the state’s approach to improving the well being of Michiganders. One now public investment driven. After nearly three decades of disinvesting in education and infrastructure in favor of lower taxes, Governor Whitmer made the case that Michiganders have paid a high […]
Michigan is a low-prosperity state detailed
For the first time ever Michigan is a low-prosperity state with a strong domestic auto industry. The recovery from the Great Recession has produced lots of jobs. Which is good news indeed. But in terms of the economic well-being of Michigan households the news is not as good. From 1929––the year the federal government started […]