Michigan\'s universities face a grim budget year in Lansing. There\'s been talk around the Capitol that the best higher education can expect for the 2006 budget is no reductions; forget about aid increases. Facing a $1 billion deficit and the demands of K-12 education and Medicaid, legislators are unlikely to push much money toward academe. Against this, university leaders can only throw arguments. Fortunately for them, they have a singularly potent one: Don\'t be a hypocrite. Thirty years ago, state appropriations covered about 75 percent of a public university education. Now, that figure is down to 40 percent. University officials can\'t expect to see those trends reversed soon. And, frankly, we still see room for greater efficiencies in university spending.