According to Richard Vedder of the Mackinac center, Maybe so.
Michigan supports universities and colleges, and is required to do so by the state’s constitution. An example of taxpayer expense at a single institution is that of the University of Michigan which receives over $300 million in taxpayer funding. According to Vedder, it does not not help:
Subsidies for colleges act as a disincentive for them to cut costs — driving up the price for students. In the meantime, there is no evidence that more subsidies lead to economic growth or job creation.
Add to this the questionable morality of helping pay for for an individual adult’s pursuit from the pockets of taxpayers, and one might wonder why such things continue. U of M itself has questionable practices that favor illegal immigrants, and technology transfers to foreign nationals.
Of course no one would possibly think there is active lobbying to continue such activities, and to pay for it all with money stolen from Michigan taxpayers.
