The Michigan budget is in crisis. To balance the $1.7 billion budget deficit, Governor Jennifer Granholm has proposed cutting $937 million in state spending for fiscal year 2003-2004.

This likely means that college students will face double-digit tuition increases next fall, Merit scholarships will be cut by 80 percent and Medicaid benefits will be scaled down.

Wayne State University's State Policy Center (SPC) will hold a forum on Wednesday, April 2 to address the state budget crisis. The forum, titled "The Michigan Economy and State Budget: An Update," will be held at Wayne State's David Adamany Undergraduate Library in the Community Room, located at 5155 Gullen Mall. The program will begin at 12 noon.

Speakers Douglas Drake and Tom Clay, two of Michigan's top fiscal experts well versed in the history of Michigan's current budget crisis, can speak with authority on Michigan's economic outlook.

Other topics to be explored include the potential impact of Michigan's budget crisis on the higher education budget, Medicaid, K-12 education and corrections to revenue sharing.
Drake, associate director of the State Policy Center, in the College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs, was previously director of education and infrastructure in the Michigan Department of Management and Budget.

Drake also served as director of the Office of Revenue and Tax Analysis. He has held various positions relating to taxation and budget issues for over 25 years.

Clay, senior research associate for the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, has held a number of key positions in state government, including deputy State treasurer, deputy director of the Department of Management and Budget and director of Michigan's Budget Office. Clay worked in state government for over three decades.

For more information about the program, which is free and open to the general public, call (313) 577-3075.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 31,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.